Avocet O2

Avocet 02, I sure do love you
You calmed all of my saddle fears
You're wide in the right spots
And narrow where I'm not
Together we ride new frontiers.

Avocet O2, to you I am true
There's more to you than what appears
Your fine leather sails me
Titanium rails mean
For ride comfort you have no peers.

Avocet 02, without you I'm blue
You've cushioned my tush for ten years
And tho you are weary
My backside's been cheery
If it could, it would give you three cheers!

- The we're growing Old together Bag

Stella

If you didn't know her, you'd call her an old cuss.

She's been around the block, Stella has, and she loves the animated conversation that arises from sharing tales with someone else who has a few gashes and scuff marks like hers.

Yeah, THIS one? Know that uphill rock garden in the north loop at Wirth? Man, 3/4 of the way up every time....

Remember that tree across the Ojibwe? Caught the front derailleur....

This one -- car rack -- can you even believe....

Well, there's a new horse in the stable. He's a bit pretty, and you know how those pretty types can be. Underneath they're nice enough, but hanging out with one means restraining the foot-tapping while they learn the ins-and-outs and get their first bruises. Just like that uptight cousin from the right side of the tracks, this one will soon realize that mud and sticks are good for the soul.

In the meantime, he's wearing red. Bright red. Candy red. Smooth, melted, shiny, red hot, run-your-hand-along-my-toptube-and-feel-the-gliiiide red, with a...get this...WHITE fork.

PAINT...on a mountain bike? Please.

She sighed as she was loaded into the back of the wagon first, leaving the good spot for the newbie.

Here we go again.

On the trail, though, he took the downed trees in stride and hit the rock garden in fine shape the first time over.

Thank GOD he's not a namby-pamby....

The first paint scratch was pretty mild so it didn't hurt too badly, but she knows that first saddle biff will come, that decal scrape, the gummed-up cable housing, first paint chip, and she'll be there with the tough love.

Get your arse back out there, it happens to all of us, get over it, we'll talk about it later over a few beers.

She's seen it before.

- OB and no, the new one isn't mine, it's The Sweetie's

MIA

still alive
still kicking
and screaming

hit the ground running after the MI bicycle ride in August
back to work before most
some of it paid
some of it not paid
labor of love??

two parent info nights this week
what, now it's 24/7?

now back in evening classes until mid-December
reading research and opining about theory
but in secret I'm scouring the MTBR forums

still commuting
still grocery-getting
still breakfasting and riding
still fall mountain biking
still thinking about a new 29er hardtail

after 13 years in the same Honda
now a new used vehicle for hauling my pretties to new trails


- OB and up past my bedtime!

MI Shoreline Bicycle Tour

Well, none of these pics actually shows that we were on bicycles last week, but that's what touring is about: stoppin' to smell the roses.

It took me awhile to get used to the idea we could actually swim in Lake Michigan -- I'm too used to the bone-chilling Lake Superior!

Lots of eating and a bit-o beer with lunch!

The roads were lined with purple, white and pink wildflowers.

Beverages after a long day in the saddle.

Sleeping Bear Dunes state park at the top of an 18% climb -- that slope downward on the left of the photo just gets steeper...

...and this is looking down. People run the dune...well, maybe they run down it, but they use all four to get back up. There are actually people swimming waaaaaay down there.

Cherries, peaches and apples, oh my!

The nightly tent city 3 mils separate you from your snoring neighbor.

The nightly laundry -- the day's togs washed while in the shower.

Typical rocky shoreline...there were some sandy beaches also.

- OB now has to get ready to start up the school year!

Rags? Riches?

We all have our t-shirt collections: the favorite is often from THAT ONE EVENT which happened THAT ONE YEAR and now the shirt is threadbare. My collection is largely made up of sizes that are too big for me now. I haven't shrunk but styles have changed, or event officials offered the "one size fits all" model of XL and I wore them a bunch before finally admitting I'm just not an XL.

I've had a plastic tub of 'em stored away for several years...memories escape every time the lid comes off.

- an MS ride
- the jazz fest during a friend's wedding in Fort Worth
- Superweek
- pounding nails on a habitat house
- the precursor to the NVGP
- the local day tour in Northfield

I've saved them fearing that without I won't remember the miserable MS weekend with conditions that spanned low temps and icy rain (we got soup for our stomachs and bread bags for our feet in a little cafe in Moose Lake) to 90s and sweat the next day (one of the ugliest photos of my life was taken that day).

I worry I won't remember being so far off the back in a Superweek race that when we caught another dropped racer she thought we were the break catching her -- she was in awe when she learned we were only 3s and 4s and we were "this far away from the front of the pack?!"

What about the wonderful time in TX bonding with friends who'd scattered 'round the country? the Jesse James shoot-'em-up reenactment in Northfield after the ride? where I learned my nail-pounding skills along with the satisfaction of helping someone in need?

I sat down last week and quartered my old shirts that have been taking up space in the attic. At first it hurt. But the beauty? Now each shirt is in six to eight pieces all mixed together and each time I take one out to clean a bicycle I have a different flood of fond memories that make maintenance that much more enjoyable.

- TOB

PS off to cycle the Michigan coastline for the upcoming week -- you all have a good one!

Tragedy too Close to Home

The end of rush hour, 6:10 pm, bumper to bumper traffic heading to the baseball game or home from work.

I35W is a major artery crossing the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis.

Collapsed.

Witness reports say it bounced up and down (one said it felt similar to bad alignment) or heaved or waved then dropped out of sight. Seven deaths confirmed, many injuries.

Roughly 50 cars in the wreckage and in the water surrounding the bridge were searched. Recovery efforts will start for any that lie underneath.

The bridge deck was undergoing maintenance, but the failure was structural.

Twenty people, including one construction worker, missing.

Everyday heroes helped the injured from their vehicles and got 60 kids out of a bus.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1338294.html

http://wcco.com/topstories/local_story_213191448.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6927113.stm

- ob a major cycling route lies underneath and follows the shoreline

The More Things Change...

Government class. There I was sitting my life away for an hour every day. I had better things to do with my time during my senior year in high school: play practice, art club, flute lessons, shooting hoops.... We'd just started up another school year, and a controversy flared.

The Tour de France was rocked by news that Astana's battered team leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion after Saturday's time trial in Albi...the Kazakh's blood had shown evidence of a transfusion from another person with a compatible blood type.... Upon receiving the news, the Astana team suspended Vinokourov and quit the Tour de France.... http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/news/?id=/news/2007/jul07/jul25news

Tess: I just feel so bad for them. She was a cheerleader, don't remember in which sport, but she was cute and blond and she felt bad.

Me: They signed the paper. Their parents signed the paper. They knew what they were doing. The entire first string football team had gotten caught at a party on homecoming night. That year, getting caught drinking, smoking, drugging, or even getting caught in the presence of any of the above meant an athlete was done for the season.

Every rider that is participating in this Tour de France has signed the UCI's antidoping charter in which they promised to give up a year's wages if caught doping. That means that Vinokourov, Moreni and possibly even Rasmussen may be giving up their salaries as punishment, but that's no consolation for their teams, the sponsors, the mechanics and other people involved with the team. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul27news2

Mr. Hausenkopf sat back and listened during the spontaneous debate in government class.

Tess: But still, they shouldn't have been kicked off!

Bert: It wasn't fair. Bert was an enigma. He was somehow one of the beautiful people, in the popular crowd without being involved in anything...no sports, no art, no music and no personality from what I could tell. He spent no time on anybody who wasn't somebody, and I was barely a blip on the outer edge of the Somebody Radar screen.

The news Tuesday...raised a number of concerns with Floyd Landis. One of them was the question about fairness, which the California resident said was not adequately considered in the months leading up to the Floyd Landis trial.... http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul25news4

Me: Not fair?! School officials had gone to great lengths to outline for us the new training rules that fall. We got it loud and clear. When I signed, I understood what I was signing. If I was ever caught I was out of whatever I was in. To me, nothing was worth that.

Bert: They shouldn't be kicked off the team for being at a party! Bert was trying to sound as eloquent as his 17-year-old countenance would allow. That's just stupid!

...the Danish federation claims Rasmussen missed an out-of-competition test on May 6, 2007, afterwards correcting that date to April 6 and adding another missed test on June 21, 2007. Finally in June 2007 Rasmussen was again careless with sending his whereabouts schedule to the UCI, according to the claims." http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/?id=/features/2007/tour_rasmussen_media072

Me: We don't decide what's stupid. We decide whether or not to follow the rules, and if we want to play we don't have much choice. We all signed it -- they signed it. They all knew what would happen! Of course there was a chance of not getting caught, but everyone knew the consequences if they did get nailed. Their decision lay with assuming the risk. The new rules were harsh, but were clear. There were no second chances.

Team manager Theo DeRooy has withdrawn the maillot jaune from the Tour de France. The team fired Rasmussen, who lied to them as to his true whereabouts when he missed his out of competition tests in June. "Wrongly reporting whereabouts is a flagrant violation of UCI rules and is unacceptable," read a statement by the Rabobank team. http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/news/?id=/news/2007/jul07/jul26news

Bert was stuck. He looked at me and sneered. Well, just because you're a jock.... It was the best insult he could come up with on the spot. It made no sense given the conversation we were having. I was a jock. It pissed me off just the same. He didn't understand the sacrifices nor the honor of just being part of the field.

"This is a bitter pill to swallow," said Nick Nuyens, whose Cofidis team removed itself from the Tour de France. "It hasn't all sunk in yet." Nuyens was forced to leave following the news that his Italian team-mate Cristian Moreni had tested positive for testosterone. "Of course I was surprised [by Moreni's positive test], he told the Gazet van Antwerpen. "I am disillusioned. I don't know what they will do with us. All I know is that we have to leave the Tour. "When you take part in the Tour for the first time, you hope to at least reach Paris, not this," he said bitterly. "And I was so happy to have survived the last mountain stage." http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul27news2

I decided to follow suit and called a spade a spade. Just because you're a waste....

I didn't understand then that while adults are expected to grasp the consequences of actions, arguments can be made for the adolescent brain and what it understands, how it responds and whether it can reason. Can the same argument can be made for elite cyclists? They're aware of the consequences, but do they really understand? They're young. They've been so immersed in racing for so long that it's all they know. Is it an arrested development? Is it desperation at having put it all on the line for so many years and finding their results and their dollars won't carry them past their 30s?

Former pro cyclist Jan Koerts announced live on Dutch television Wednesday night that he used doping products during this career. "You come to a given point in your career where you have to decide," he said on the show De Avondetappe. "Either you consider your career has failed or you participate in doping," he said. "I have participated. It was that or put an end to my career. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jul07/jul26news4

- TOB

The Deep Freeze

they're in there
muffled
trapped
they call to me
and I can
hear
them
in quiet moments
they talk
to
me
singing my name
and when I let
them
out
we're here, Jeanne
they
hang
around
we love you
my midsection
for
weeks
and we'll be inseparable!

- The Rolly-Polly Bag has GOT to put in a few more miles this weekend...