Deep Sigh

Ok, so the Floyd decision came out yesterday. I don't know why its bothering me, it is exactly the decision that I thought they'd come to. After all its like a billion to 0 that you win in arbitration, now isn't it. Not that I think Floyd is innocent mind you... At some point though, I think that a decent rule of law should prevail. I really would rather have a quilty guy go free than have "the man" get to violate their own rules.

Really. I mean it. Crooks go free all the time. And when the evidence is mishandled, and the cops screw up, they should. Trust me, the crap really does sink to the bottom, and if we miss you this time, we'll catch you later. Or your associates will do you in. Same thing.

I do find it amusing that the people who make money off cycling are rarely the cyclists. Its the UCI officials, the race promoters, the team directors, the doctors and the like. Most pro cyclists are poor schleps from some impoverished back ground who will leave cycling as poor as they started. Yes, there are exceptions, but I bet the number of cyclists who make a million dollars a year is far fewer than the number of people who feed off cycling who make lots of money.

When J and I were at a Nike running camp, oh so many years ago, we got the USTF long distance chair drunk and pinned him about Reginia Jacobs. We had that deep gut bet the farm feeling that she was doping. I mean really, the rule of thumb is that at best you have 10 years to run fast from the time you start working at it. At close to 40, Regina was killing everyone. In bun huggers she was also starting to develop, um, a certain ... yeah, um, male looking appendage. What? Yeah, look. Funny how certain drugs can do funny stuff to the female anatomy. It was one of those, geez, am I seeing that? Dont look, have to look, dont look, have to look kind of things. All Jerry would say, was that she was no longer one of his favorite people.

Reginia of course got busted in the BALCO affair, quit the sport and now sells real estate and brags on her website about her records, national championships, and world medals.

Genevieve Jeanson has now admitted that she started taking EPO from 16 on. Her coach made her do it. This was after she proved that the EPO test that she got nailed by, was invalid, and got her suspension waived in a "you dont sue, we let you go away deal."

So I'm just not sure about anything right now. I am sure that if you are going to ruin someone's life, you better have your own act together. Its not good for the sport, its not ethical, its just plain not right. And if you are one of the schmucks who is cheating, you are stealing. And you suck.

No, really, BREATHE!

Yesterday, someone's Mom died across from Virginia Center Commons. She was coming out of the shopping center that has Ukrops and Target and the like, and its a supers busy place with all the stuff there. I guess she was in a hurry, and just pulled out right in front of a large truck carrying drain pipe. Honey, trucks cant stop on a dime. Thats not a mistake that she will make again, and the poor truck driver will have to live with the accident on his mind forever. (she had the red light)

So slow down. Breathe. There really is NOWHERE you need to be that you should risk killing yourself or others to get to.

Which of course leads me to this morning. I pretty much have to come a little cross country to get to work. I'd ride my bike to work, but its illegal to ride a bike on the Wiley Bridge. River Road in the summer is fine, but after September, the kids at St. Christophers go back to school. Its a private school and there are no buses. I swear those Mom's will just about kill everyone to get their kid to school. That includes other kids. The speed limit there is 45 mph, which is too fast.

This morning, I had a Mom so close to my bumper that I couldnt see her headlights. She was literally trying to PUSH me down the road. I was sure that my bike rack was going to impale her. Breathe honey. Leave earlier. I wasn't going to vault over the cars in front of me, and I doubted that she could have done it, either, Landrover or no.

Maybe its just as well that Dottie cant take me to work. I'm sure that no one out there today would have minded a bit running over us to save a few minutes.

They say its your birthday

Ok, so it was yesterday...

It's really funny, now that I race bikes, race horses and I now have something in common. No, not speed. It's birthdays! Bike racers and thoroughbreds may have a date of birth, but our ages start January 1 of every year. So I was 42 January 1, and 42 yesterday. Kinda takes the bang out of the second one now doesn't it! Although, no one gave me any stuff on January 1, which was kind of deflating.

Last night was the chick's ride, but with the end of the season, Greg and SanDee slumming in France, and Vendorfest at the office, attendance was way down. Excitement was way up. With just 4 of us, there were feints, attacks, accelerations on hills and a lot of laughter. I cant think of a better way to spend the day. It had better have been good, as I passed up dinner at Flemmings with one of my big law firms. Trust me, the booze was flowing there last night, and since the big partner in that firm also has a wine shop, I know that he was working the wine steward at Flemmings overtime. I may be the only one in this office without a hangover today.

So when you see me next year on January 1, dont forget the presents. I have a much better chance of actually going out and partying on the off season day, than the end of the season in September. And remember, I like wine. The good stuff. I bet Bruce can hook you up with some.

The State of the Art

I think that art work is a very personal thing. It's like porn, you know it when you see it, and what is art to you, may or may not be art to me. The works that speak most to me, tend to be those personal things, that bring me back to a certain place or time. I've been very lucky over the years to have some very talented friends, who have shared their talent with me.

When I lived in Baltimore, Bob Ray had his harem, and I was lucky enough to be in it! I think Bob still has the longest running streak on record, and he made his streak even harder by insisting on running a minimum of 5 miles per day. Bob ran in the rain, the snow, with a broken leg. Bob once delivered a baby on one of his runs! Bob also painted slate and I'm lucky enough to have one of his pieces in my house.

Herb Park was an up and coming wild life artist who had an outstanding Brittany bitch. Lucky for me, he fell in love with one of my top winning dogs, and not only gave me the pick of the litter between the two, he painted DD's portrait which now proudly hangs above the dresser in my bedroom. DD was a group winning show dog, had a hunting title, could snag a flying bird out of the air, and could completely make everyone fall in love with him. Having him die suddenly at age 9 was devistating. Having Herb's portrait be the first thing I see every morning brings my best buddy back to me on a daily basis.

The picture above is Fat Frogs flier, Glenda Craddock with Bobby and a portrait that she did for me. Glenda is the first cyclist artitst that I've met and I'll treasure this piece forever. I dont know how I've gotten so lucky to stumble on such talented people.

The latest piece that I have is an original comic by Jef Mallet. You know him as the creator of "Frazz." If you haven't been reading Frazz, you are missing out on some of the funniest stuff ever done about running, cycling, and tri stuff in general. He also writes the back column for Inside Triathalon, and is huge into community involvement. I got the work from a donation to one of his causes in Michigan, when he was going to do some crazy swim across the lake. (As in the BIG LAKE). Go to www.comics.com to see some of his work, or better yet, go to the book store and get a copy of his books. There is wildly funny stuff there.

I've been on the waiting list for two years to have Adelle Castillo do a portrait of Bobby and Petey, two of my rescue dogs. Petey, aka broken dog, was kicked to pieces and still has tons of pins in his rear holding his legs together. Adelle is a big supporter of BARK, one of the rescue organizations here, and where Petey came from. Part of her support is to make calendars every year with all the proceeds going to BARK. It gives me warm fuzzies to think that Petey can be the subject that brings in money to such a worthy cause.

And speaking of worthy causes... after reading BJ's post yesterday, I went on www.petfinder.com and started looking at the animal shelters on the peninsula. Now in Richmond, the euthanasia rate for adoptable dogs is 0. Yep, no adoptable dogs here were put down. This is a stellar achievement. Sadly, when I looked at Chesapeake, that is not the case there. They intake almost 6000 pets a year, and put down over half of them. I looked at the dogs in thier care. There are poms, chins, weiner dogs, labs, beagles, shepherds, poodles. There is even a dog that could be Petey's twin. If you are thinking about getting a dog, and are not interested in breeding or showing, call me. I'll help you find the right buddy. Dont rescue a dog to rescue a dog. Rescue a dog to have a friend for life.

The Joys of Chipseal Season

Chip seal season usually starts in August and ends about mid- September, and if I'm lucky, my good friends at VDOT put out signs a few days prior to give poor slobs like me a wee bit of warning. Not this time. Wednesday the roads were fine, Thursday and Friday I had to take off as my hip is acting up again, and Saturday was carnage day.

This is actually a photo from last year during what I fondly call the chip seal wars. VDOT either hires Whitehall to do the work, or does it themselves. Whitehall does a great job, VDOT, not so much. This is of course a VDOT stretch of road. The same road that the station chief told me was fine, and didn't have any excess "flow" on. That was the story until I sent the photo to the acting head of VDOT, Tim Kaine, the newspaper, and just about every organization I could find. Before I got home from work, VDOT was sweeping roads. (Funny, thats kind of how I got them to repave Taylors Creek as well.) I now have a kind of a cold war going on with the station managers. They know who I am. I know who they are. They know that I only ask them to fix things that really need fixing, I'm reasonable about it, but know the person at the Times Dispatch who writes the Stuff to Fix column . Its a workable solution.

Unfortunately for the guys on the Contes shop ride, they dont seem to be more than passing familiar with chip seal season. This year, instead of using small gravel like in the photo, VDOT used gravel shards. Yep, just like glass shards. It rained Friday night. So they were wet, glass shards. I'm not exactly sure why all the guys insist on using race wheels, and tubular tires on a group ride, but they do. As you can imagine, the results were bad.

As Goddess of the Universe, I dont need to ride Zipps on a training ride. So I was fine. As soon as racing season is over, out come the heavy, kevlar tires. So as I was going down the hills from Holly Grove I was surprised at how small the group was. A few minutes later I saw group 2. Hmm. Very strange. 6 miles from home, I saw Pascal Fernandez, walking his bike. Yep, Zipp tubular wheels. Now it would have been about a 30 mile walk back to 3sports, so I told him that I'd be back with the truck, and took off for home.

So now Pascal owes me big time. His number is in my cell. I bet I rescue the guys again before this is over. I may end up with all the guys owing me, because you know they aren't going to give up any advantage they might have on that ride. Even if it means walking a very long way home.

The Princess Butt

You've heard of the movie The Princess Bride, then there is the princess and the pea, and the Princess Diana waive. Well, nothing as glamorous as that, I have what J calls, a "princess butt." Yes, its kind of like the princess and the pea, where my royal ass just has to have everything its way.

I am not alone in this. My hero, Oscar (Freire to you peasants) has an even bigger princess butt than me. Now I've had to have one saddle sore cut out, Oscar seems to have a standing appointment for the suckers. Darn. If you cant sit on the saddle, its a wee bit hard to win the World Championships, now isn't it. Of course, Oscar has won 3x, and is due up for win #4. Watching that one win, when he bunny hopped the median, and raced up the other side of the road, damn, he's the man.

My latest whinefest started the other day when it was like 99.99% humidity and I was dumb enough to go out in a new pair of shorts, with no chamois cream. All it takes is one little stitch that doesn't lay down perfectly flat, and whammo, I come back in with a 3" scrape that when I got in the tub put me in orbit. Since I ride everyday, that sucker has gotten bigger and bigger to the point that the princess butt is now covered in tegaderm. I'm going to have to buy stock in that stuff, I have a whole medicine cabinet full of it!

So if you see me sitting a wee bit gingerly on my throne, remember, I am a royal pain in the ass!

Newt points?

Long ago and far away J and I created "turtle points" kind of a K and J version of indulgences designed to reward us for saving all the little tackers that we know that God loves so much, that people keep squashing on the road. I use my points to make up for the fact that I cuss way too much. So last night went a long way to get me out of my perpetual deficit!

These little guys are about an inch long, maybe a centimeter wide. Aren't they beautiful! With the measly amount of rain that we got last night, the newts come out onto the "big rock" to warm up, where they meet a bad end. If the cars don't get them, the big rock does. When the asphalt dries, it dries these little guys, leaving newt mummies behind.

So poor Bill had to suffer thru having me stop over and over on the road last night to grab the little guys. They are very sweet, very calm, and probably pretty pissed when I take them off the warm asphalt and put them back in the woods. But, at least they get to live another day.

So if you go out for a ride, after the rain, keep an eye peeled for something that kinda sorta looks like a gold leaf on the road. You too might be able to gain a few turtle points for your efforts!