Odds & Ends. Mostly Odds Though.

I think it's time to start my race season by getting my ass kicked at the Iron Hill Challenge this weekend. Despite the fact that it violates my long-held religious principle against competing in any race with a reference to positive altitude gain (Mount Nebo, Iron Hill, Wintergreen Ascent, etc), I think I'll head up there and try the 4 hour endurance race. I'm unfit, the back is still pretty wonky, and I ain't ready for it. And... sooooo what. Doesn't matter. Time to get going and even if the day and the scenery don't fly by, even if I'm DFL (good bet), it's time to get back on the racing horse. The extreme comfort that the Big Mama offers means that only my legs and lungs will be hurting, the back will be pretty well taken care of. As long as the weather is okay, I'm a go. I'll let you know how it shakes out.

-------------------------------------------

I nearly saw a girl run down yesterday on my way down 9th Street in D.C. She was booking along in heavy traffic. I made room to let her by on the right. Cars were moving at about 15, she was doing maybe 20. By the odd happenstance of lights, she wound up a little ways in front of me when the road opened up. An asshole in a Jetta gassed it to get past her and went to turn right in front of her, cutting her off. She hollered and braked hard, he just stopped and sat there blocking her. Had anything happened, I was definitely stopping to stick around and be a witness for the cops. It was a bullshit maneuver on his part but what you'd expect.

Speaking of bullshit maneuvers... check out the film of a Miami-Dade bus driver running down a cyclist that is posted up over at Drunk Cyclist. But for the grace of God, there go I...

-------------------------------------------

Now here's something that's pretty funny, and it may be a sign of (1) the apocalypse; (2) that we should all stop what we're doing and start drinking, hard. It's Ted Nugent speaking sense, more or less, about energy policy. It's in garbled, jacked up TedSpeak, but I think most of what he says is correct. Y'know, once you translate it into Englishy. Ted's thesis:

When gas prices go up, Americans condemn big oil for making profits. When catastrophes happen, such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Americans demand that big oil be severely fined, demand more government oversight of the industry by a proven incompetent Fedzilla and demand that more safety features be implemented to prevent another oil spill while expecting gas prices to stay low.

That sounds right... we want plentiful, low cost fuel, on a massive scale beyond the Fed's capability to regulate, and we want no environmental impact. I think that sums up the voters' sentiments about national energy policy pretty neatly. Ted goes on to more or less articulate a bunch of implications of that belief system, and why it isn't rational, in his editorial. He's a crazy sumbitch, but in his own way he speaks the truth as he sees it. I like him for that. And for the gnarliest 70's heavy rock anthem, Stranglehold.




That's a great song if you're climbing some long hills - like up at Thurmont. Good rhythm you can grind to, or double up on and tap a fast cadence. And I know this is midweek and you aren't used to music here right now, but I can't help myself:



"When in doubt, I whip it out, got me a rock 'n' roll band it's a free for all!" Yeah, Ted may be crazy but dang, he played some good music. Just as time would pardon Yeats because he wrote well, time will also pardon Nugent of his nuttiness because he gave us some great music.

-------------------------------------------

Former University of Maryland student / porn star goes on killing spree... Terps representin!

-------------------------------------------

In the wake of Cadel Evans covering himself in glory yet again, this time at the Giro ("I didn't punch that doggie..."), Ritte van Vlaanderen's excellent summary of Cadel bears further notice. Please click through.