Thanksgiving 2008

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As I take some time away from cooking the ham (my sister is bring’n the turkey), peeling the sweet potatoes, setting the table and cleaning the glasses, I’d like to share some rambling thoughts. Today is Thankgiving. And, for me anyway, it is a day to spend with friends and famliy. To eat too much. To drink too much. And, mabye, reflect a bit as well.

What is this website? What has it been? And what will it become? I can’t begin to answer any of those questions – and I’m the guy who has been writing in this space since September of 2000.

That many years? Really?

Really.

And if I can say one thing with confidence, it is this: The more things change, the more they stay the same. It’s been on my mind this morning. I don’t know why, exactly. Maybe because someone asked me about drunkcyclist?

My response? “I dunno.”

Clear. Concise. Confused. Par for the course.

I think it’d be cool to post up the old shit you wrote, back before wordpress. Back when DC was good because you had the voice and your finger on the pulse; Vegas in 03, having no talent and still giving it hell, Leadville, all your struggle in cycling. You had the voice of the common man.

BKW is the new black for cycling. DC is dead since you left. As it should be, all things die.

Hey wait, no talent? I had at least some! Give me that much at least!

No. It is the true. I had no talent. And I’m oddly comfortable with it.

Those cats at Belgium Knee Warmers are bringing the A game. Can this site do what they do? No. That time is past. If it was ever here at all. This is a part time gig, at least for me. And by part time I mean pretty much no time.

Going to law school was like throwing myself off a cliff. It’s a good time and all that, don’t get me wrong, but it demands a lot. A. Lot. And, I’ve got two kids in diapers. You think I’ve got a lot of free time on my hands for blogging? Or, cycling. Or, blogging about cycling? Yeah right. I think I rode a bike for an hour one Saturday morning a month ago. And I found 15 minutes to write about it.

At least I’m not the only guy in the world to try something this stupid:

Anyway, you will like it, my friend. First year is tough and I almost dropped out near the end of my first semester, but I am glad I stuck it out.

. . .Being older is better. I can’t imagine having gone at 22. Like I said, I just hit 50 and lawyerin’ skewl has made life a whole lot more interesting.

. . . The cool thing about going to law school when you’re older is that time flies and it’s over before you know it. I still can’t believe I am a third-year law student. I am actually beginning to believe I will graduate!

I’m actually starting to believe this semester will actually end! I had a similar exchange with a different friend of mine with a similar “do it” vibe:

You just have to work your ass off until your drop. There is no backing out.

. . . We need you out there in the lawyer trenches. It’s bigger than just you, you can do a lot of good for all of us and you have to get there, baby.

Damn straight.

I knocked back a few with the Erik the Tucson Bike Lawyer a week ago Friday. He finished his glass of scotch, set it on the table, looked at me and said, “You know you’re going to be doing what I do, right?”

Yeah. I know. There is no way around it. No reason to deny it. I’m in law school because I want to help people. Because I want to help cyclists. People like me that got hit. People like me that got hurt.

It is going to be a few years yet. But, I know where I’m going. I can see that ribbon of roadway leading out to the horizon. I’ll get there. All it takes is time.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

19 Replies to “Thanksgiving 2008”

  1. BJ,
    I had a similar epiphany a few years ago. Going back to school was the best choice I’ve made in years (but ask me in another few when I have to start paying for it…) It was tough after 13 years out, but it would have been the wrong choice at 24. At least I have the MS to fall back on now. Hang in there. Semesters end, you get a couple of days sleep, and start it over again. The recovery after being hit was actually harder. It’s been enjoyable reading your thoughts. DC’s not dead. It’s maturing, as we all do. Peace.

  2. 34 years old and a 1L just like you Johnny. I have been reading here since 2001. Stay strong. In a month we will be on vacation, for a month.

  3. I’d like to “know” how BKW is a A-one cool site.

    I made it sort of down the first current page. It was a dopers row of all the super best dopers in the fucking world.

    Basso, further up on the doping curve in his time than anyone. Vino in the vid, the Sasha Cohen of doping and REALLY from KZ. Praise about LA, the genetically perfect specimen except for his lack of high VO2max which EPO did such a excellent job in completing the circle.

    I didn’t read more than most of the first page, (because the peloton brown-nosing was repulsive) and I realized BKW site belongs PRE Festina-98, it seemed to act as if the fact that 90+% of the peloton doping a few years ago and 50% of it doing CERA last year wasn’t a fact.

    I hope I am wrong, I hope BKW has that shit on there somewhere, but it didn’t seem obvious for as long a glance as I could do without throwing up a little.

    I am back to DC. The site that does not do fucking hype, that more than fucking VeloNews told the cycling community what the fuck was up with the dopers and was real like a fucking brother is real, not a fucking promotional engine because those times don’t exist after fucking Bush brought the global economy to it’s fucking grave site.

    out

  4. BKW is all about the race. In another word: Cycling. get over the doping and the name drop and you’ll are back to the same suffering that has always been, and always will be, the dark lord.

    Now, Fuck off..

  5. Amateur, no talent, directionless…whatever…it is what it is.
    BKW it is not, and that is just fine with me. If you want a good rundown on embrocations, BKW serves just fine. It is entertaining too, just a different for(u)m.

    DC. Its a blog. No rules. Enter at your own risk. Don’t come in with high expectations and you are less likely to leave disappointed.
    These things are amorphous, and just like people, constantly changing to some degree. Some people can only live “back in the day”, others embrace change, others somewhere in between. I am one of the people who believe at least some change is necessary in life. Some people complained when the format went to wordpress, but judging by the (apparent) traffic it is still doing ok…whatever doing ok means.

    DC dead? Hardly. Changed? Of course, just like the people running the show. As it should be.
    And I like it just fine — past, present and maybe even future too.
    Those running this thing, thanks, it entertains me and I know I sure as hell don’t do much for you. Happy thanksgiving.

  6. This shit is still real. Look at the non-cycling stuff posted here. The differing opinions should make everyone look at themselves and their own views. Keeps you real. I am with Gnome. Keep up the good fight, and let those that post keep it coming. I for one have learned a few things about the “other” side of several arguments, whether I change my opinion or not; we still need the DC. Yeah the site has changed away from the bikes and porn a bit, but so have the cats hanging out here. Don’t be too quick to jump off onto another site; remember the best booze is always the stuff that is aged.

  7. Jonny-

    Nice essay, thank you for the effort these past few years.

    Me, I bagged about forty miles today, 40 degrees and rain, a stiff SSW making a choppy, slate-gray Puget Sound. Wet, snot-slick green moss on chip seal, I was making like 14 mph. They’ve upgraded the Chehalis-Western trail, opening the chicanes and adding signage. Schweet. I rode a completely new trail out of Lacey called Olympia Woodlands Trail, wet asphalt downhill all the way back to downtown Olympia, I was cold, in a hurry and praying some dog or stroller didn’t jump out in front of me. Awoo.

    Mikey

  8. Jonny,
    I’ve been a regular (every day) for about two years,living and riding in a small rural town in a semi desert in South Africa. In fact it’s partly your fault that I now ride a singlespeed 29r! And don’t want to stop.

    You’ll make a damn good lawyer one day.
    Keep your feet on the pedals.

  9. Jonny – life is about change. I am confident that you will make a great attorney. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. – Bobbo

  10. Pirata and Scorekeeper…damn if you didn’t take the words outta me own head. I’ve been coming here for about a year now (and apparently have developed a second personality of late that is a complete dick), and I really enjoy what is being laid down for the most part. Gnome, I think your keeping the faith, and Johnny…much respect for burning the candle at both ends…I believe all this sacrifice will be worth it for you and the cycling world.

    Dig it.
    sfb

  11. Lawyers? I won’t quote Shakespeare; I’ll just say this-There are far too many shitty ones and not nearly enough good ones. Something tells my Jonny will be one of the latter. Godspeed, big man.

  12. I’ve been lawyering for 19 years, and I still get psyched going to work. I help people when they don’t know where to turn. I help people get out of their own way. I have saved more people’s jobs than I can count. And I work with some of the smartest, most decent people walking the planet.

    Always laugh at the lawyer jokes–they’re funny and you always need to laugh at yourself. But never believe the BS behind the joke. There are assholes in every job. If you keep the same vibe you’ve displayed in this site for the past 8 years, you won’t be one of them.

    And remember, when the bad times come in law school (and, yes sir, they will come): Law school ain’t lawyering. Law school is the dues you pay for the right to do one of the greatest jobs known to man.

    So study like you’re training for Leadville. It’s all worth it.

  13. …lotta cycling sites out there…some “straight, some w/ a twist but drunkcyclist is a unique vehicle of expression…
    …i’ve always maintained that some of the most comprehensively in-depth political discussions i’ve observed have come of the web-pages of dc
    …sometimes ya gotta hose off the shit we sling at each other (guilty as charged) but juane grande’s baby has a life of it’s own…

    “I for one have learned a few things about the “other” side of several arguments, whether I change my opinion or not;”…well said, scorekeeper scott…

    …so, keep it up, big jonny, gnome, et al… literally & figuratively & i’m speaking about the site & the attitudes…

  14. I like DC because it’s messy and unpredictable and entertaining. If I wanted finely polished I wouldn’t be here.

    Law school? No comment.