A good question.

So I’ve discovered the mind boggling time wasting potential that is “facebook”. This site is an incredible loss of productivity for the country as a whole. That said, I will plead the 5th when it comes to how much “at work” time I’ve spent there. The question at hand is whether or not to post this URL at that site. Do I continue to enjoy the mental masturbation experience of no one reading my blog, or do I expose myself to the masses. Granted most of the masses could hopefully be a little kinder since most would actually have met me at one point or another. It would hopefully drive me to at least post a little more often if nothing else. Ahh the perils of the internets.

Oh yeah, its my birthday, Yea me!! I’m in a caged telco closet waiting for VZ to call back. Oh yeah and I got up at 5:15 this am after a crappy night’s sleep. w00t!!


T minus 61 days

A New Dawn

Hyperbole abounds. Barack Obama was elected president last week in a reasonable majority. The sense history, symbolism, relief, hope, and renewed optimism is palpable. I find myself motivated (almost) to volunteer somehow to pitch in and lend a hand like I havent felt in years, if ever. Almost being the key word. I want to be involved, to take part in what I hope will be the start of something bigger than the age of greed that I/we have suffered through since 1980. If nothing else, the trainwreck that has been the 43rd president, had almost guaranteed the election for this man. There's been alot of press about what can be done to return the United States to its proper place in the international community. Executive orders, reversing signing statements, closing Git-mo and Abu Graib and Kandahar. There's honest policy work being done to try to relieve the stresses on the middle class.

I think the nation as a whole is holding its collective breath until Jan 20th.
Got Hope? isnt a question so much anymore as a statement.

All that and I've discovered Facebook! what an incredible way to waste huge chunks of time.


T minus 67 days

Got Hope?

Its no longer a question. I've got hope. We've got hope. Now the question is quickly becoming can we go forward and leave the partisan bickering, for the sake of partisanship behind. Can we go forward and put "country first"?? Can we do it with honor and grace?? Can we progress past the tactics of smear and fear. This isnt an us vs them situation. We all live in this country together. Lets try to make it a better place for *everyone*.

T minus 69 days

Last Hours

Its come down to the last hours. Will we “keep hope alive”?? Or will fear and paranoia rule the day? Will Chicago erupt in mass rioting no matter which way the election goes? Will someone find a way to interfere enough to actually throw the results into question? Will people accept their duly elected president if they can not accept the loss of their own candidate. Hard sayin’ there’s a lot of talk about rioting if Obama is elected. I can kind of understand it only in so far that I know occasionally sports fans get out of hand and riot in the streets after their team wins whatever championship. UMD had this problem a few years back after the basketball team took the final four. Is our racism really so deep and ingrained that normally rational people honestly think that black America cant be happy and joyous without tearing shit up?? What’s wrong with you people??? I don’t get it. I didn’t riot after Clinton got elected. He was the first time the presidential candidate I voted for won. Hell he was one of the first candidates of any office that I voted for who won. (Problem with being a liberal in a red state.).

Somehow this smells a bit like Y2K all over again.

T Minus 77 days

Stealing an Election

The election grows near and the noise from both sides is ramping up. But I think the thing that bothers me the most is that, once again the same strategy rears its ugly head, Voter suppression and the accusations of voter fraud. Voter fraud for this argument is one person trying to either voter more than once or trying to get many to vote more than once under false information ie. Hi my name is “Joe the Plumber” and I would like to vote please. Now imagine trying to throw an election like this. You’d have to be successful at a number of different points in the registration process with thousands of different identities and then have them actually go to the polling places and vote to have even the slightest impact.

Then there is election fraud. Election fraud is the wholesale manipulation of a voting segment. Literally 1000’s of votes and/or voter registrations being either altered or rejected in a single instance. Like say a recount being stopped, or stuffing the ballot box electronically on a voting machine without paper confirmation or throwing out tallies that don’t fit your particular desired outcome, or soldiers overseas being “caged” or for that matter people from a single demographic being targeted by either caging or under servicing of polling places, which would demand that certain people stand in line for hours in order to cast their vote. Not a very democratic thing to do if that population is an hourly work force. Laugh if you like; there is evidence of all these things happening over the last 8 years.

What does it say about your party when one of its primary strategies is to actually suppress voter turn out?? How is this supporting democracy??


In case you haven’t heard Lance is back. And back with Bruyneel at Astana. Contador was unsurprising less than thrilled, but Lance is Claim cancer awareness as his motivation. He’s already confirmed for the Tour Down Under, and the Giro. Could be interesting. My biggest concern/objection to this is simple, its time for someone else to get the attention. The US has more than one cyclist and more than one cycling team. I’m tired of Lance. And clean going forward doesn’t say anything about the past. Was he clean?? Who knows. All I know is that virtually everyone he competed against over that time has been busted for one thing or another, including a good number of ex postal/discovery riders.



T minus 88 days

Not So Fast Fucktard

Ok my bad. John McCain doesnt have a soul so much as a moment of regret. John McCain and his shit machine have carried on their hate spewing tour of darkness. John's moment of " Mr Obama is a good family man" seems to have been an apparition. He has returned to his "we cant help what our rally goers do and say" line of crap. Bullshit John McCain. You know full well that you and your "VP" prospect are inciting hate and hate speech. And you also know that if you wanted to, you could put an end to it. Way to put "America First".

T minus 95 days

When the going gets ugly the ugly get going.

Why is it even remotely acceptable by anyone ,with more than a second grade education (anyone remember the golden rule), connected with the McCain campaign or the Repugnacan party to not step forward and stand up to the hate vitriol and violence that has gripped the conservative base at the latest campaign stops?? Calling someone “inexperienced”, misguided, wrong, hell even a crook is one thing, but to allow your rally attendees to actively call for the death of a US senator and presidential candidate is beyond the scope of reason, taste, civility, or even basic acceptable conduct. This is how the Nazi party came to power. Mind you I’m not calling John McCain or the repugnacans around him Nazi’s, but I am saying that they should be letting people know that this is wrong on such a basic level.

And why is it that so many fucktards (my new favorite word) think that the middle name “Hussein” makes the man a terrorist? I understand that the right wing paranoia machine put it out there, and I’m not asking them to disavow their own rumor. What I don’t understand is why they continue to think there is any, any,any truth in this at all. If there was any sort truth to it then wouldn’t be naming our kids Wayne.

Ok so I wrote this on Fri while on dispatch. Later Fri Evening comes around with the news that John McCain himself is correcting his rally-goers. Saying that Barak Obama is not a socialist, a terrorist or an Arab. He is; in fact a good family man. John McCain has a soul and spoiled my rant

Bastard.

T minus 98 days

Motovation, Inspiration and Serendipity

So it's been a long time and lots has happened. The Giro is over, Tour de France is in the books, as is the Olympics, Bike Virgina, most of the summer, beach week with Mrs Culimerc's family, and the Democratic Convention. And I'm still waiting for my crankset to complete Project Dream Bike. It's been in the stand in my basement, 90% complete, for 2 weeks. It's been killing me. I've been going down just to look at it. I'll post pics once its complete. Hopefully I'll have a ride to report by this time next week, but probably not.

It's interesting how timing works. I've been becoming less and less satisfied with my job. Beyond the financial rewards there really isnt that much in the way of fulfillment and almost no chance for advancement. The working conditions are pretty good; I dont really feel threatened by layoff, my boss sits in another city, I get a free vehicle (and everything that goes with it gas, insurance, tolls etc), if its slow, I just need to be reachable. But.... its kinda boring after 4 1/2 years. So I've been looking around for another job. What, I dont know, but something.

Monday I found a very interesting prospect. Basically an advocate for climate conservation. Now the thought of me as lobbyist is really ironic for so many reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I think that lobbying in its present form, is one of the biggest problems with government and access to power. But it offers me the chance to do something that matters again. I used to be a chef. Food matters, making peoples lives better, even for 30 mins; matters. Showing people something that they may have not thought of or seen before; matters. It involves passion, and passion in my career has been sorely lacking. Advocating for climate conservation could be something that I could feel good about. I dont know if I would be good at it, and it certainly deserves someone who would be good at it. I also have been the kind of person who enjoys being the #2. A bit protected from the politics, but when it comes time to get things done, the person that the #1 person looks to first. Its also one of those points where you look at yourself, think about what you believe, and all the smack you've talked over the years, and wonder if its now time to actually step to the plate, put all the talk aside and actually do something.

All of this happening during the same week as the democratic convention. This is the first one I've actually watched a good portion of. Mark Warner didnt do himself many favors, too bad I was hoping he'd be better. Eitherway. Hillery and Bill were good I thought and did what they could to smooth over the perceived rift, between the Hillery supporters and Obama and the DNC. Biden was good, not inspirational, but very good. Obama last night I thought was excellent. He was inspirational. He made direct points concerning the shortcomings of the administration and make direct promises and offered solutions. Anyone who says they dont know who this guy is or what he stands for now just isnt paying attention or has no intention of voting for him no matter what.

So is my sudden desire to help save the world a real desire or only a reaction to a moment of political inspiration. Does it matter??

T minus 143 days

Yay more Waiting !!

Wow- April 26th..... glad I could sneak one in before June. Please be aware that I wrote this while I was .......waiting (geee whiz who'da thunk) for someone to work with me from the NOC.

Here it is; sorry its a couple of days old

Whee; more waiting for me. Well its been a long time hasn’t it?? Sorry I’ve been away, after 6 months I still haven’t developed the discipline to actually schedule a time to sit and write. Oh well, life is hard. Wear a helmet.

Since last time much has happened. Barack has all but secured the nomination. Hillary fights on, in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds, staving off the inevitable perhaps as she should. McCain has secure the repugican nomination ago time ago and while not always being under the strictest of spotlights has managed some good gaffs. My favorites, which haven’t been played up by the right wing media nearly so much as it was when it involved a black preacher, is McCain’s courting the endorsements of -2- scary assed white preachers. The first, Hagy, is a proponent of backing Israel and military action against Iran in hopes of bringing on the End Days and encouraging the rapture. Oh, he also directly called catholicism, the "great whore". The second is a man named Parsley. He states that America was founded in the destruction of Islam etc. etc. etc. McCain has actually sought these people out and asked for their endorsement. Endorsements usually involve some sort of payback eventually either stipulated or implied. He also let his health records out; the Fri. before the memorial weekend. 20 reporters that he selected, had 3 hours to review 1100 pages. 9 seconds a page. Initial reviews were that he wasnt going to die tomorrow. Yeah this guy has nothing to hide........Should be a fun summer.

I been building bike regularly for a couple of months now. And more importantly, I’ve been in contact with MOOTS!!!!! I should be able to start the actual build process of the frameset next week (hopefully). 2 months later, I should be able to gaze upon the beauty of a frameset that will always be a better bike than I am a rider.

George Bush in the meantime has done what he has been doing for the last couple years, continuing his war in Iraq, to the benefit of few, mostly his friends, and to the great burden of both the American and Iraqi people. The soldiers obviously are the worst off of this side of the conflict. Long tours, stop loss policy, and under funding post deployment, and veterans support programs seems to be his way of supporting the troops. The Iraqis in the meantime have to live in perpetual violence and horror. Oh yeah; Did I mention that he also vetoed the latest GI Bill that would help our soldiers, not with health care, but move from military service to a further their education and get them out of the non skilled work force and into the ( what is quickly becoming) the minimum starting point for a skilled work force or job. Good times.

F U George. Can you go home early??

239 and counting........

Gumbo

So being that "cooking" is the first subject in the blog subtitle, I guess I should write about it at some point or another. Now is as good a time as any.

The little Mrs. and I make a Sunday pot meal and pack it up for lunches for the work week. Saves a crap load of time in the morning, a ton of money and is usually better tasting than another round of Cosi or Quizno's. This week it was gumbo, no particular reason why, it just was. So here it is in paragraph form, cuz thats how I roll.

Cut in to chunks and brown 4 boneless chicken breasts in a large heavy pot. (I *heart* le crueset). While that is cooking chop up a green and/or red pepper, a good sized onion, a couple of ribs of celery and of course a good sized pile of okra (at least 1.5 lbs.)into large chunks as well. You'll also want to chop up a cup or so of either taso (spicy cajun ham) or country ham, I use Turner Ham. A finer chop would be a better idea here, pea-sized or slightly smaller. You can add any sort of extra veg you like it *is* soup after all, my wife doesnt necessarily agree with me on this particular point, I had some mushrooms that needed to be used. Remove the chicken and set aside. In the same pot, saute your vegetables. Chop and add a couple of cloves of chopped garlic. A couple of teaspoons of thyme, some hot sauce or dried chili at this point too. Once the vegetables start to become translucent or shiny (pepper will never be translucent) re-add the chicken. Throw in a 1/2 lb or so of sliced Andouille. Pour in a bottle of reasonable beer (miller lite is not a reasonable beer, Samuel Adams is), a can of chopped tomatoes, and enough chicken stock to cover by about an inch to an inch and a half. Simmer and adjust seasoning. Dont worry about the thickening, that what the okra is for. Serve over rice, or add the rice in and serve as soup.

MMmmmm good

269 days left.

Not a bad day all told

Some days are better than others. That pretty much goes without saying. What is really nice is when a small part of the day makes the whole thing and turns an otherwise ordinary, spending time til retirement kinda day to a pretty good one. It was simple, surprisingly so. I got to go for a ride after work. That was it. 90 minutes of turning pedals over and over. Not even any sort of special route, nothing new, a route that I do as a default when I want to knock it out in under a couple of hours. It was perfect weather wise. I worked the legs a little hard at the gym yesterday, so I wasn’t expecting anything special. But after I got warmed up, I was out on a long flat 3-mile section. The cadence came up, and I was off. It was all just really nice. Speed was a little higher than usual; I smoked everybody but one guy who just sucked wheel for about 7 miles. Even then, he didn’t get away so much as our paths went different directions. It was just a good day. Back to the salt mine tomorrow.

I saw one of the first smart bike depots in Farragut Square yesterday. It will be interesting to see how this all wears, with tagging, abuse and weather. I really do hope this works. Cities will not solve their traffic and pollution problems until they actually eliminate cars from the road. Make roads wider and/or more roads will only lead to more traffic. At the end of the day the only answer is to get people out of their cars. Full stop. There lots of parts to the solution, but the end result has to be less cars: period.



Hillary pulled just enough out of her ass in Pennsylvania to prolong the agony. My question is; how many of the more conservative democrats that are Hillary’s stronger pull, will opt for “the maverick” John McCain anyway, no matter who wins the Democratic nomination. Good news is that while McCain isn’t spending money or taking political hits, he’s only getting part time press.

Anyway, there it is for now

270 days left

Time is on My Side

Time is on my side (I think). Here I sit waiting….. waiting ….. waiting. This is the part of my job I really love the most. I had asked a supervisor for access to a secure facility. Then I had asked him again. Here I sit….. waiting. Ugh.

Here’s something to ponder; It was brought to my attention that several previous world powers of their times (in particular, Holland, Spain and England) all had several things in common. They had at one point based their economies on manufacturing and trade. Later they had all become the premier military force of the time. They had all also, abandoned their rolls as producers of goods for that of financiers. And finally, they had all become more average powers, economically, politically and militarily. Does any of this sound familiar??

We as a country have ceased producing “added value” goods and are now basing our economy on banking and finance. Moving money. Not producing income. Not producing cars, steel, finished lumber, computers, or anything else that we had during the greatest expansion of the middle class the world had ever seen. Now we produce financial products, and debt. We have sold company after company to foreign interests, which in and of itself isn’t horrible until you consider that while the company in question continues to run and continues to employ people (usually fewer of them with fewer benefits), the owning company takes the profit. Essentially skimming the cream of the company, removing it from the American infrastructure permanently.

So that’s something to chew on while your waiting…… waiting ……waiting.

278 days to go

LeMond v Trek/Armstrong

So it's time to get back on my soapbox and shout (write?) to no one in particular. w00t!

Last night I started building bikes at the Bike Lane in Burke. Why?? Pro-deals baby!! It's been 4 years since the bike quiver has seen any real action beyond the addition of the Fixie, so its time for some needless upgrades. Why Bike Lane?? Esp. since they are definitively out of the way for me. Because these guys do the most for the biking community at large. They host their own events, they lead rides, they help sponsor teams, in short they do all the stuff a good LBS is supposed to. All the stuff. Most of the others in the area do contribute, but not to the extent that The Bike Lane does, here to be known as TBL. Either way, a slow start for me. 3 bikes in 4 hours. There was some time wasted, and I'm really rusty. It'll get faster.

What kind of upgrades?? Like it or not Mrs. Culimerc will be getting a new bike. Hopefully something under the 27lb tank she's riding now. Yours truely will be getting a new road bike (moots or merlin hmmmmm), and a new mountain bike, because you know I spend sooooo much time on the one I have now. The Jamis will be sold, in favor of a 29'er probably. And a pair of SIDI's just cause. and all the stupid schwag I'll pick up in the mean time.

Now for something that actually matters. Greg LeMond is finally getting his wish, He and Trek will be parting ways. after years of trying half heartedly to get away from Trek, Greg finally pissed Trek off enough and they are counter suing to terminate the contract that was going to keep LeMond with Trek til 2010. Apparently Trek got tired of Greg accusing Lance of doping, and all the related news making he was making. Greg admittedly sounds like a bitter old man, puts at the same time much of what he has been accusing people of has come to pass. I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for Lance to fess up tho. You can read more about the Lemond/Trek thing here. Essentially, it boils down to LeMond sells 12,000 bike for 15 million a year, and he was bad mouthing the company's biggest image in Lance Armstrong.

Alexi Grewal wrote an amazing brave open editorial in Velonews. For those of you who may not know; Alexi was one of Americas premiere cyclists back in the early 80's. About the same time as LeMond or even just a little earlier.

Here's a cool article on doping and game theory written by smart guys

I would talk about the Democratic Primary, but it's taken it's toll and I'm just kind of done with it at this point. Hillery just seems to be hanging on for I dont know why.

Hey here's something I heard on left wing radio. The Saudi's are actually holding telethons on TV trying to raise money for insurgents in Iraq! Then again the biggest source of cash right now for militias in Iraq is the US. .oO("Here's $10, now stop shooting at me"). Pay offs are one of the oldest tactics of occupiers of foreign soil. Guess we're kickin it ol' skool.

285 more days

Blog Jump start

Sometimes you just have to start. Or restart in this instance. It's been a month since my last post and so much has happened. Paris Nice, Milan San Remo, Tierrno Adriatico (sp), victories for Obama in a bunch of different primaries, more scandal from our administration, My trip to FL, a new tattoo. Oh the list goes on and on. Rather than try to address it all I thought I would instead, just get something down on paper (?). I didnt want this blog to fester in neglect, but March was exactly that. Oh well, Happy April. Spring is technically here. My company is going through restructuring after being bought, so I run the risk of lay-off (good times). Things are greening, and the days are getting longer and the weekends are warmer, so there are better chances for riding.

The Bike Lane is trying to start a spring fling bike weekend this weekend. I didnt know if I should volunteer to help or just show my face. I opted for the latter. I'm still waiting to build bikes for these guys, mostly for the pro-deals (shocker), but they wont be in their new space til at least next month. Either way, if ya got some time head over there on Sunday and check it out. These kind of things are always good to support, eventually they turn into events that raise awareness and options for cyclists everywhere.

293 more days

UGH!

There's alot going on right now. Lots of things that deserve to be expounded on. Too bad right now I'm trying to figure out which is my favorite candy; Sudafed nasal decongestants or Hall's throat lozenges. Ugh I feel like crap.

ToC and Smart Bikes in DC

So the ToC is underway. And its a good thing!! Yay the season is here and we're rolling along. One thing I find funny tho; Bob, Paul and Phil have not mentioned word one about the fact that Rock Racing is racing with only 5 guys total. Poor Super Mario is pretty much out there by himself. He did manage a very respectible 3rd the other day. Not bad for an old guy 3 years out of racing. I've got to give it to Rock Racing too. I gave them a bunch of crap coming in, but they put up a bunch of cash, as founding members for the ToC. Cadillac has bought ads. They've sponsored both the "rock racing cam", essentially the helicopter view and the podium girls. Way to put up Michael Ball. Who knows I might buy me a Rock Racing jersey yet. Lord knows I cant afford their Jeans.

And Locally even better news!! Published in WABA's newsletter is news of bike sharing in DC. What I thought was a pipe dream is actually coming to fruition. Smart Bikes is the DC version of the Paris program the has been soo successful. DC's program isnt going to be quite as ambitous to start, but it will be the first in the US beating out even Portland!! We're starting out with a 120 bikes in 10 locations, but given DC's small size, this is a good start. $40 gets you access to the system for a year. A simple swipe of your "smart bike" card and your off to the races for 3 hours. Locks will not be provided in the hopes that people will be using the stations rather than locking them up independently. ZIP Car and FlexiCar both came to DC a couple of years ago and DC turned into the nations most successful car sharing city, over 26,000 members share 700 cars. Lets hope Bike sharing is just as successful. The Website will be www.smartbikedc.com, its not up quite yet, but hopefully soon. The crazy thing is that all this is being sponsored by Clear Channel, one of those mega media companies that are controlling the messages you get to hear on your radio and read in your newspapers.

In Arlington they are expanding bike parking at Ballston, and looking at ways to better protect bikes while they are parked at the Metro stations. Currently the bike rack facilities are out of date and getting run down, they were designed and built during the build-up of Ballston back in the 80's. They are also looking at developing a "Bike Center" to act as depot point for bike traffic and commuters in the area. Go Arlington!! Check out the big plans here

Overall I gotta say its an exciting time for cyclist in the DC metro area. Lets hope that Fairfax county can start to get their act together too.


Go Slipstream!!!

332 more days

Astana is out (so far)

So, did anyone really *not* see the chances of this coming??? ASO which owns the Tour De France and most of the other important races in France has banned or rather summarily not invited Astana to any of their parties this year. Its a huge blow. Especially in light of the fact that other teams who have also been naughty in years not so far past, have been invited to at least the first of the major ASO races, Paris Nice.

I think a good part of ASO shutting out Astana is political as much as anything else. The major tour operators have been battling with the UCI for a couple of years now over invitation lists and wild cards in their events. UCI wants to dictate that the organizers have to have the 20 UCI Pro-tour teams. While the 3 different tour organizers want to have more control over who races in their events.

Dont get me wrong, Astana has alot going against it. It was born out of scandal. When Operation Puerto broke just days before the '06 tour, Liberty Seguros had 4 riders eliminated, leaving just 5 and not enough to start as a team. Alexander Vinokorov went to his homeland and drummed up enough support to buy the Liberty Seguros license and started Astana. Since then no fewer than 4 of Astana's biggest names have been busted for doping, most notoriously Vino himself during last years tour, after proclaiming that all the cheats left with the previous management team.

This year they hire John Bruyneel of Postal/Discovery team fame. Johan is not the most outspoken critic of doping. Some might say that he is actually a bit cavalier in his attitude towards doping as a matter of fact. Tho to his credit he has developed a team policy and policing practice that is certainly as thorough as anybody else's at this point. But history being what it is; and the cries of "but were different now", doesnt helps things any.

So, Astana is out. Partially due to history, partially due to politics. And for all those conspiracy freaks out there, saying that the French are just doing this so they can actually win their own tour; I point out that of the highest placed French rider from last year was Michael Boogard in 12th.

Now enough but bike racing. I've written on it almost exclusively for a while now. Sorry. I didnt intend for this to become a bike racing blog only.

I've started at a gym for really the first time. A bunch of years ago I tried for about 2 months and quit. This time has a better chance of taking. Mostly because both Mrs Culimerc and I have friends to work out with. Makes the whole thing a bunch different. So hopefully, I'll turn my flabby, pasty, white butt into a tone, pasty white butt. Good luck to Me.

We're having a wine tasting here this weekend. Should be a good time, its kind of like a tupperware party with alcohol. We'll see how it goes. My brother had no last week (that he didnt invited me to crash.....hmmm). He said it was a good time, s much because it was an adult party as much as anything else. Not having chosen a life of servitude to children, all our parties are adult parties. Take your diaper talk somewhere else breeder. Anyway, should be fun, wine, cheese, pate and all that other good stuff. (read bad for your heart).

Go Slipstream

340 days and counting.

What's not news

So maybe whats even more than what is news ( McCain is all -but- the official nominee and Clinton and Obama are the only 2 contenders left for the Dem's) is what isnt news. I havent heard from Rock Racing all week. Its like the first time since early Dec. Maybe they're losing their touch. And this right before the tour of Cali. Oh no!! Whatever will we talk about?? What without Michael Ball, Tyler, Chipo, and the rest of the circus. Oh yeah there's always Astana, who if you didnt know, has not been invited to the Giro. *snicker*.

If your lucky enough to be in Portland Oregon this week, stop by the hand made bike show. If there was ever a bigger festival of bike porn, I certainly dont know what or where it is. $18 at the door never bought a bigger stiffy. Bring on 2009 baby!! I can go to Pittsburg!!

So my weekend pretty much went into the toilet. For those of you who have never had to be "on-call" consider yourself lucky. Fri., I got called out just long enough not to be able to make the gym (and my first appt with a trainer to find out exactly how out of shape I really am). Saturday, as we are cooking dinner, I got called out again, to a customer prem, 3 hours of running around in circles trying to get anyone else to care that a customer is down and needs help. * am Sun. dispatch from a 3rd vendor is scheduled, so I'm up early waiting for calls that never come. Finally 9:30 I go to help anyway. Its pretty easily proved that its really not my problem, but no one else is helping, so I end up baby sitting. TILL 4: fucking 30 IN THE AFTERNOON!! Thanks a fucking lots folks. Way to help out the customer. So either way, I got almost 1/2 a weekend. I slacked last week and I'm gonna try to got what ever over with quick this week. I'm pretty happy with what I'm paid, but I need time off and away.

So, how was your weekend??

I almost forgot!!! The writers strike may be over!! w00t!! I havent had time to look into what the terms are etc. But this is good.

Go writers!!

344 and counting

RIP Sheldon Brown

All of cycling has lost a hero, mentor, sage, and role model. Sheldon Brown died of a heart attack yesterday.

The world may know who Lance is, but he will never contribute 1/2 of what Sheldon Brown has, quietly and without fanfare.

I never met you Sheldon Brown, my loss.

Godspeed.

the season has started

So here we are at race season again. w00t!! I get to obsess and wax poetic about a sport that even participants in find a bit hard to watch. So, goings on in the Tour of Qatar; Team Slipstream continues to impress. Even with the loss of "Big Maggie" to a broken collarbone Slipstream continued to put their young sprinter Chris Sutton in the top 10 everyday, eventually landing him just off the podium for 4th place in the stage race. Congratulations Chris and Team Slipstream.

Maggie says he'll be ready for Paris Roubaix.

Go Slipstream

Does this mean I gotta go buy a burrito now??

I haven't been talking much politics recently mostly because I've been getting over saturated with all the coverage of the primaries and the last state of the union. (thank god! only 350 or so days left) But as it stacks up now it is essentially a 2 horse race on either side. McCain/Romney and Clinton/Obama.

I would perfer to see Romney run only for the fact that I think he is more obviously insane and more likely to melt down under the national spotlight. McCain, just 8 years ago was pulling conservative dems and is a far more savvy politician, far better at fooling people who dont listen carefully.

Now that Richardson is out, as is Edwards and Kucinch (sp?) it's down to who we all knew were going to be there at the end. Clinton and Obama. I have a hard time with Hillery for a number of different reasons. Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton is the first. I think that we should have more than 2 families in the white house over the course of 36years (George the 1st was VP in 1980, if Hillery were to serve 8, she'd leave office in Jan '17) That and the fact that as a women in a man's world, I'm afraid that she would make overly aggressive decisions in order to prove that she was every bit as tough as all the guys. Also her vote on the Kyle Lieberman amendment, naming Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization, after the Iraq authorization 4 years earlier she should have known better than to allow GW that kind of authority. He immediately ratcheted up the saber rattling until the NIE came out disputing the fact that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapon. And at the end of the day we can still talk about the fact that she has taken more money from the industrial military lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, and the insurance lobby than anyone else democrat or republican. Did I mention the fact that she is probably the most divisive figure in the race on either side??

Yes I know there are other contenders still in on both sides, but none are going to affect anything, not even Huckabee.

So Super Tuesday is 4 days away, lets hope the democrats havent shot themselves in the foot (again)

All this and Mrs. Culimerc has already said I get to go riding both Sat and Sun. w00t!!

John Doe and Slipstream to the Giro

So, its been a week now and guess who's in the news again!! That's right, our boys over at Rock Racing.

So here's the deal; a couple of days ago a story comes out that a rider identified as "John Doe" is suing the USADA in order to stop the test of a "B" sample, after the "A" sample came back clean. Everybody's first question is "why" and the second question is of course "who is John Doe". Now why is the USADA testing a sample that has already been deemed negative. That's a fair question, especially when taken with the fact that teams need to submit their rider list to the Tour of California by Mon. and one of the new rules is no riders allowed who are even under investigation. Could this second test be viewed as an investigation?? And how many times should a rider have to pass screening with the same sample?? Are they testing for different agents?? Then again, if you've already passed the screen and you havent been doping, because we all know that cycling is all cleaned up now with the new attitude going around and all the testing being done, what are you afraid of?? So that is Thursday's news.

Friday's news?? Rock Racing's Kayle Leogrande is John Doe. Shocker Huh?? Kayle is probably literally the most colorful man in the peleton. He owns a tattoo parlor and is completely covered neck down in tats'. Dont get me wrong I like tattoo, I've got a couple and will be getting more and I think we need more people out there with tattoo so it ceases being some sort of discriminative choice. But between that and Michael Ball's antagonistic tirades you gotta know something like this is gonna happen. I do really hope the guy is clean. He's fun to watch, and I'm not ready for Rock Racing to implode quite yet.

In other happier news; Slipstream got an invite to the Giro in May!! Yay!! Go Slipstream!! And today was the start of the Tour of Qatar. An 8k team time trial was used as a prologue. I like team TT's and I wish ASO would put them back in the TdF. Anyway, Slipstream was holding on to the top spot with only one team to go. Quickstep, last years Tour of Qatar ended up finishing with the day's best time by just 2 seconds. But Big Maggie and David Millar drove the team to quite the impressive first showing. Beating 15 other teams including 7 pro tour teams. Way to go guys. Oh yeah, who runs the tour of Qatar?? ASO. Who was in the stands?? Tour Boss Christin Prudhomme. And while Mr Prudhomme hasnt actually said the Slipstream will be invited, he has said that he wants an American team there and that Slipstream's doping policy's and controls are in line with what he wants to see at the tour this summer. The ASO are really tired of scandal and are hoping for a comparatively quiet July.

Go Slipstream!!

Oh yeah and I got to haul my fat ass out for a ride today. 39 miles and my legs were starting to soften. Its gonna be a long early season at this rate.

Nice Job Matt

Went to a friend’s art opening last night. His first one-man show in years. It seems to have gone very well. He was more in his element than I had seen him in most times. If he wasn’t proud, he should have been it was a great show. Pieces had sold before the show had even opened and another sold while I was standing right in front of it. There were about 18 pieces or so overall, and while I will confess to not completely understanding the subtleties and nuances of Matt's work, they are clearly done with some considerable skill, talent and vision. Congratulations Matt. Fine Job.

For those who are interested his blog can be found here.

In other news, my cycling is off to a solidly mediocre start. While the miles per ride is up a bit the number of rides isn’t where I’d like it to be, and Mrs. Culimerc has already started making noises that “there is more than bikes”. News to me.

Washington DC is apparently in the preliminary stages of looking at what a bike rental system (a la Paris) would look like in DC and how would it be executed. From what I’ve seen at the WashCycle, its going to be a membership fee then swipe your card and you get 3hours. Or more accurately; a membership fee and a years worth of downtown bikes. For non-members (tourists), swipe your card and be charged X amount per hour for all the mall cycling you can stomach. Infrastructure wise they’re talking about a kiosk every 500 yards. Seems like a lot, but with that kind of saturation you could install smaller number of bikes per location. One of the hang ups is Pepco. They want all locations metered, meanwhile streetlights, stoplights, electronic parking meters all go with out meters. Sound like the old guard trying to stop real progress to you?? It sure does to me. (check the "sharing" label)

Cipo joins the Circus

So apparently Michael Ball is easing up a bit. It took a whole 9 nine days for Rock Racing to show up in the news again. News this morning was that Rock Racing was close to signing none other than Super Mario to its ranks. As the rumor goes Mario will being doing a little bit of both racing and director sportif'ing. In the absence of Frankie they needed someone who know what they were doing to drive the car and direct the team. As a continental racer you cant ask for much better than Super Mario. Dont get me wrong this is great stuff for American Racing. A true cycling Rock Star showing up across the country even as director sportif will help draw crowds. It just seems, .....like Michael Ball is determined to buy himself some credibility no matter what, rather than doing it the old fashioned way. Earning it.

Cipo on the other hand was told that he owes the Italian Govt 1.1 million bucks. So everybody's got something out of this. Michael Ball has a shiny new toy that no one else has, as well as, a sprinter that even at the age of 41 can probably finish at the front of the American Crit scene, a director sportif, and a new buddy that will attract even more HOT chicks than he does. Cipo gets a well paid cush job, and a closet full of designer jeans. I swear 'Vegas ought to sponsor this team.

Are we taking bets on when the wheels fall off this sideshow??

Polls vs. Reality and more Rock Racing

So here it is and another week is gone and another primary and another Rock Racing scandal.

So New Hampshire votes. The media picks Obama by double digits. Hillary pulls it out in the end by 3 points. Couple of things here to mention. First the media is beside itself with "how could it be so wrong". "But this isnt what the polls showed". Know what the polls did show? As many as a 1/3 of voters were either undecided or not completely sure. Not sure about your fuzzy math, but mine puts that at 30+ points. That would make the outcome well within "the margin of error". Also there were a couple of other things to take note of. The press is now wondering what does Obama do with this stunning upset. News flash folks, before Iowa, Obama was 12 points down on Hillary, a week later he is in a basic draw with her (both took the same # of delegates). 12 points in a week, that's not a loss, thats a good week. Also, Obama finished with almost the exact percentage given to him in the polls on Mon. before the primary (lo 30's), Hillary took more of the "undecided" than expected thats all.

Two other notes, first Bill Richardson had announced he will withdraw from the race starting tonight. Too bad, I would have liked to have how he did once the west started voting. And less than 1% of registered voters have expressed who they would like to see in the general election. Lets hope we dont know for sure who is going to be nominated by the time we get to Denver. That would be a great show.

New week, new Rock Racing scandal. Joining Tyler and Santiago Botero at Rock Racing is fellow Operation Puerto veteran Oscar Sevilla. This one week after Frankie Andreu left due to "managerial differences". Also in the rumor mill surrounding Mike Ball and his merry band in none other than Floyd Landis. Apparently Floyd has been invited to the training camp and to join the organization in any manner that would not violate his UCI ban, which is none. Somebody tell Michael Ball that no means no. Still Floyd has been invited to hang out with the guys etc etc in with no official responisbility. Michael Ball has said that he likes to give people a second chance, and I for the most part agree with him. But loading your team with unrepentant dopers at the end of their career just smacks of stupidity. Whatever. Sponsors are running for the hills with this one. Rock Racing had stated that they wanted to be invited to some of the premiere races in Europe this summer , yet somehow they overlooked the fact that they applied for the wrong license. Nice attention to detail. Oh yeah, he also tried to talk Super Mario into a US comeback while they were in Vegas. Nice.

Rock Racing at it Again

So, more news from the Rock Racing camp. Lotta noise for a team that’s not even in season yet. Frankie Andreu has left his director sportif position. Can you blame the guy?? I mean Mike Ball is hiring riders without even consulting him. Mike calls himself the “day to day go to guy”, “he’s the man to talk to”. Frankie apparently wanted to do more than just drive the car. Now please realize that Michael Ball only got into bike racing last year and by his own admission he doesn’t know what the traditional job of director is. Well, he’s in it now baby!! So the soap opera takes another turn, I’m waiting for the real fireworks to start after the season gets rolling. Last year they had some good results, and a very respectable 1^st year showing. Now, with the off season acquisitions of several suspect riders and his rather bull in a china shop approach, it should be quite a roller coaster ride come summer time. Good luck Rock Racing riders! I honestly hope you all do very well. American Racing needs a spectacle, just not another doping one.

Go Slipstream!!!

In Iowa it was

Dems.;

1) Obama

2) Edwards and Hillary virtual tie

4) Richardson

Reps.;

1) Huckabee

2) Romney

3) Who cares??

More later after it all gets run through the mill.

Leadership

With the Iowa caucus tomorrow you cant turn on anything without hearing about who we're going to choose to "lead" us into the future. Newsflash for you here folks; America stopped leading anything along time ago. Oh sure, we lead the world in per capita consumption, waste, production of green house gases and obesity, but I' talking about leading in a positive manner. As a benevolent agent of change. Doing something to make the world a better place than when you found it. We havent signed the Kyoto treaty, cause some third world country wont be regulated as strictly as we will. Our schools are deteriorating because we have to pass a standardized test, rather than teaching kids how to think and why figuring stuff out is fun, even if it is hard. Our health care system is a privilege of the wealthy, because we wouldnt want to deny the pharmaceutical industry the right to make 8.4 billion dollars a quarter. We cant sell our cars in many countries around the globe, because it would cost too much to figure out how to make them more efficient. In short, we've stopped leading the way forward, because someone decided that they could make more money on the status quo, than they could shaking things up. What happened to the days of NASA taking a man to the moon, to the Marshall program, where we as Americans rebuilt Europe and Japan, not because we had to, but because it was the right thing to do. What happened to leading the world in invention, in scientific experimentation and education for everyone. Why now are we afraid of what our kids might see on TV, or the terrorist under every bush or the brown skinned guy coming to help feed his family. We lack true leadership. Our politicians are more afraid of losing funding than doing what they know will hurt people. Real leaders will do what is right and take it on the chin anyway, knowing that its right.

In Arlington Co. right now there's a new Co. Board Chairman. Walter Tejada is his name. This man is trying to lead. Really lead, not placate the wealthy, but do what is right despite what is risky. In Va., localities are limited in what they legislate, most things have to go before the state senate for approval. Walter isnt letting that stop him. Tejada is proposing a number of policies that tho technically voluntary, ways are being investigated to offer encouragement. Eliminating trans fat from restaurants is one. Some are on board with this plan, others arent so enthusiastic, siting the same old tired excuses for doing what is cheap and expedient. "Its too expensive", "it'll change the taste of the food". Get over it folks, healthy people have more money and time to eat out. Other more exciting plans include Co. wide programs to encourage people to completely eliminate their cars, starting a regional bike sharing program, start "accessory dwelling units", eliminate smoking in public spaces, and my personal favorite, requiring property owners to pay relocation assistance to low income families. Most, if not all of these are in place in cities and towns already. Trans Fat laws and Public smoking laws are on the books already in our area. Va tried to pass something like this earlier, but the tobacco lobby got involved when it got to the VA house. You can guess what happened next, not leadership. Car-Free Diet is a national program, and related to it is public bike sharing programs. Their are several already in place in cities like Paris, Munich and London. New York is looking into the feasibility of a program there. Accessory dwelling units are second dwellings on single home lots. Something akin to a Mother-in Law suite or an English basement. Given the size of houses in the area over the last couple of years, this is a brilliant idea. It would provide affordable housing, increase density in areas with mass transit and reduce sprawl. And finally requiring property owners to offer relocation assistance to low income families before they kick them to the curb after years of paying increasing rent. Cause its the right thing to do, it wont be popular among those who want to know down that 50 year old Apt. building, but its whats right. And that is leadership.

Go get'em Walter!!