Sport Kilts

Look, they even come in military colors! Sorry, Brian didn't send me a photo of Gilbert sporting his. http://www.sportkilt.com/

(although I bet most of the guys are just closet exhibitionists, and really do want everyone to see what is peaking out under the towel...

Thanks for short towels?

We had a wonderful weekend of racing in Central Virginia. Thanks so much to our friends at Natures Path (esp. to Carolyn in her first stint as a race director) and to Braden and the crew at Carytown Bikes for the circuit race on Sunday. Braden, I hope you heal fast with no complications after your crash!

Random thoughts from the weekend...

If you use the port a potty, please make sure you actually get said material in the hole. This is not rocket science, and your cycling buddies have to use said house of ... after you. If you miss the hole, you need to go back to pre-school for potty training, but first you need to clean up after yourself.

As a race director you can control a whole lot of what happens on race day. You can not prevent people from doing dumb stuff. IE you can not prevent people who live on the course from starting fires. I always expect "stuff" to happen, but even I'll admit that that one was a first!

Short towels... this one is from Sharon.... Guys, if you are going to do the shorts shimmy, get a full size or larger towel. And make sure that the "opening" isn't at the front. Unless of course you really want everyone to see your little pony package. In that case, be a man and just strip naked for all to see like my Irish soccer (football) friends do. I wont give you a list of all the guys' packages I've seen, as after a bike race they don't tend to be all that memorable, anyway...

We have a great bunch of people at bike races... (ok, a few jerks, too) Thanks to Dr Marc for checking out whatever that red streak and down my arm was (celulitis.) J wanted me to have the arm amputated and Marc, being the voice of reason, thought that maybe we should wait a day or two to do that, and try antibiotics first. Which he then called in for me... To Gwynne, Emily, Rhonda and Tom for helping me through the pesky asthma attack. Rhonda, I hope I didn't scare your kids too bad. Who would have thought there'd be a fire on the course!

Biggest thought... yes, you can put on a race. If Carolyn Goble can step up to the plate, and in a few months pull a really nice race out of her bag of tricks, you can as well. Good job, Carolyn. And when you get out of your post-race coma, we'll have a drink together!

Oh, well, another great weekend over. Ya'll be good out there!

Gettin' jiggy with it

Julie sent me this this morning:


Powerful Women's Motto:Live your life in such a way
that when your feet hit the floor
in the morning,
Satan shudders & says...

'Oh CRAP....she's awake!!'

I say, BE A FORCE OF NATURE. EVERY DAY GET OUT THERE AND ROCK THE WORLD. SHAKE THE TREES AND SCREAM!

Life is short, when my time comes I want the only regret to be that I worked too damn much. Which I have to do, in order to do all the cool things that I get to do. I don't want to regret that I didn't do something, hadn't been something. And I sure as hell would rather try and fail, then sit on the sidelines and say, "I can't do that." BS!

What to me is really cool is that I am surrounded by women who are a true force of nature. J shows up and everyone says, "Oh, shit!" Sharon just makes things happen by her very presence. Katie gets everyone to laugh, Jenn makes everyone look good, and Sonya kills you on the mountain bike. None of them say, "I can't do that." They all stand up and say, "Me first!"

So look out world. A whole new generation of women are coming.

Throw rocks at 'em

Alas, another one bites the dust... Ass wipe. Or rather, presumed ass wipe. It's unfortunate that in cycling the news leaks before the B sample is tested- although I can't for the life of me understand why it takes months to test a B sample, either.

I hate to say it, but I really couldn't care less about this years Tour. The best riders aren't there, and those who are there are still getting caught. This is the 3rd so far. Funny how there were no riders caught at the Giro...

At some point you have to question where pro cycling is going. Ricco's team didn't just pull him from the race, they pulled out of the race, and if rumours are true, have pulled the team from RACING. IE everyone is out, maybe for forever? Is this really what it's going to take?

Cheaters just plain suck. Big team cheaters, little team cheaters. Like the people who cut the course on marathons... (and boy do I have photos of people doing that... I may just get rich someday blackmailing the jerks.) Cheating is stealing. It takes away from those people who do things on the up and up, and it makes a mockery of sport. To have people, like Ricco, rub your face in it... stick their tongue out at you while they are cheating is just plain, I don't know, crazy? Sociopathic?

I think I'm going to finally get to watch 3:10 to Yuma. I just don't care who wins this dog and pony show.

Counting your life in dog's lives

My team mate Sharon and I we're probably separated at birth. She's my sister, just like J. Somehow, deep in your soul, you just know when you are reunited with family.

So yesterday, I knew bad things were amiss. You just feel it. And I knew what it was. Like me, Sharon has a bunch of dogs. Bunch for her is two, but they make up for my numbers, with sheer size. Sharon has Great Danes. Great Danes are what we in dogs call "heart ache breeds." Heart ache because you love them sooo much, and they are here for such a short time. 6 on a Great Dane is an old dog. 9 is a Great Dane life span. If you are lucky.

I called Sharon in the afternoon and left her a message, and she called me back when I was out on the bike. We cried and cried. Poor Mischief had gone downhill in a very short time, was in terrible pain, and yesterday, it was time. Sharon would have given a kidney for that dog, but there are some things, no matter how tough you are, that you just can't fix. The best people know when it's time, and give the ultimate gift of peace.

I know that when the time comes that I'm going to have a pack of dogs waiting for me. I told Sharon that you can measure your life in a lot of ways, I measure mine, in dog's lives. Dates and times might get fuzzy, but the memory and love of my best buddies are with me always. They steal that little piece of your heart and remain there always. For months after DD died, I would hear him scratch at my bedroom door in the middle of the night, and I'd get up to let him in. I like to think that he was there to comfort me, until I could make it on my own.

So, Mischief, until we get there... please look up DD, Chrissy, Bart, Woody, Ginger, oh and Sam, and Tilly. They'll keep you company. We're coming soon enough, just wait for us!

Where was Chris Horner When I needed him...

I saw this photo and started laughing my butt off. After Chris Horner did his job at the Cascade Classic, he came upon a rider in distress and gave him a ride.

Chris, where were you all the times that I needed a ride? Like Wintergreen most years, or heck, Mill Mountain this year? Yeah, I might take up a little more room on a bike seat, but at least no one would question your sexuality with me on the back!

Well, DUH!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-10-environment-walking_N.htm

You gotta clicky on the link. Did you know that kids should be encouraged to walk or bike to school?

Wow! What a news flash! If I had kids, I'd pull them away from their Playstation and march them right out the door!

Why in the world is this news. Kids are fat. Kids are fat because they lead sedentary lives. Schools are some of the most dangerous places around in the mornings and afternoons because you have a mix of parents trying to pick up their kids, buses trying to take kids to stops 1/2 mile away and the rare kid who will actually walk home. Try dodging that maze!

I live in the country. Most houses near me are on 3-5 +acres. However, around the corner from me are some small shacks with kids. The bus stops at EVERY driveway. The driveways are less than 20' apart. I can understand not making the kids walk the 5-7 miles to school from my road, but not walking 20' to a group bus stop?

Goochland just got a VDOT grant to put in sidewalks from the courthouse to the schools. I know that Jake Helmbolt is working tirelessly to get more counties in the Commonwealth to make walking/biking to school safer. Maybe if more kids walked, the actual dangers around the school (being struck by a harried parent trying to do 9 things at once) would diminish. And maybe the BMI of the average 5th grader would drop a little bit.