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TEAMFUBAR MOUNTAIN BIKERJuly 05 Play "Freebird"!Alright, I have officially had it. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says If you are not outraged, you're not paying attention ? I have seen that one a few times and thought it was humorous, but a bit radical. Not any more. Bush commutes Scooter-fucking Libby's sentance? Why the hell are we bustin' our nuts day in and day out working a real job when we could be out pilaging and plundering like old school pirates and getting "get out of jail free" cards from "W"?
Look at all the shit that has transpired from W. Enron, his dad stepping in to get him the presidency (remember Dade County?) Guantanamo, Ahbu Ghraib, Valrie Plame, Haliburton, Iraq, Iran, fuck the French, Karl Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney shooting a person in the face, and Scooter Libby to name a few. I realize that not all of them are his doing specifically, but Judas Priest, take some responsibility for your White House! I know, I know, all the right wing nut jobs are coming out of the woodwork to say "Well, look at who Clinton pardoned!" All presidents pardon people at the end of their term. THE END. Ford pardoned Nixon for Watergate. Carter pardoned Patty Hearst for the whole SLA deal. Reagan pardoned George Steinbrenner for felony conspiracy for campaign contributions. Bush the First pardoned Caspar Weinberger for his role in the Iran-Contra affiar. Clinton pardoned Mark Rich for an oil/tax fraud fiasco. They ALL do it. But they don't do it during their term. And they don't do it for people they said they would put in jail for leaking Valarie Plame's name. What a bunch of BS.
The congress wanted to lynch Clinton for shoving a cigar up Monica Lewinsky's cootch, but Bush is shoving a big ol' cock up the American public's ass for 6+ years. We need to stand up and tell our elected officials we are NOT going to put up with this any more! We need more Americans to speak out like Keith Olbermann. Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xozYFUIvHQM&mode=related&search=
I'm out. June 27 My bike.I am just shy of 1000 miles in for the year so far. I realize there are some "core" roadies out there that had 1000 miles clocked in early March, but most of my miles come from mountain biking and commuting. Also, this is more than I have ridden in the last 6 years, so I am feelin' great about it.
But, I am NOT feelin' so great about my Moots right now. First, I finally replaced that shitty assed Progressive 5th Element that it came with. Got a Fox RP3 for cheap on eBay and the rear suspension rides like it should. Now, my fork is totally FUBAR'd. The negative spring is leaking and it is knocking on the rebound. Shit. Another $400+ for a new fork is on my horizon, I can just feel it. Oh well. I guess I'll have to call up Big Al for a fork. A road trip to Sheridan WY is on the way...this might work out nicely!
June 26 Its been a long time...I put this in the Mountain Biking category since I don't really know where else to put it other than the fact I have NOT been riding much lately. And for good reason. As I have mentioned in previous posts, my father was sick with complications of Hepatitis C and a liver transplant. As Paul Harvey says, here is the rest of the story.
Two nights after my last post, my mom called saying my dad wasn't responding to her very well and asked if I could talk to him on the phone. I did, but he didn't respond to me either. My mom then called 911 and had the paramedics come to the house. He was in such bad shape that they wouldn't take him all the way to University Hospital and took him to Swedish Medical Center instead. By the time my mom got there, he was intibated and in a comatose state. This was not my father's wish or my mother's either. After a long week and tying up some loose ends, we had the "life support" removed on Friday, June 1st at about 10:45 am. In true fashion of my dad, he hung on strong all day long, and finally at 8:50 pm he passed away. That day is very surreal for me. We basically made an appointment with the doctors in the intensive care unit to remove the equipment at that time. I felt like I was going to a c-section or taking my dog to be put to sleep, not going to see a pre-arranged appointment to watch my dad die. Even as I write this, it still seems very weird. I am very glad I was there with my brother, mother, my dad's sister and her husband, but it was still an almost out-of-body type experience.
The following week was more of the same. Traveling back and forth to Denver, making arrangements, making numerous phone calls to people about what had happened and finally on the following Friday, the service. Knowing that this was eminent, we were able to discuss some of my dad's wishes with him. Originally he wanted to have a regular burial in our home town of Spearfish, SD, but after some discussion about the logistics of that, he said he wanted an open casket service then cremation. The only stipulation of the cremation was having a "LifeGem" made from some of his ashes. If you have never heard of LifeGem, they take the carbon from ashes and compress them into a synthetic diamond.
The service went off without a hitch and some very nice memories of my dad were shared by all. We had a gathering at my parents' house afterward that would have made my dad proud. He really enjoyed having gatherings with people laughing and having a good time together. When my brother got married, we did the same thing in the back yard and he absolutely loved it as he I know he loved this one.
Then on Saturday, we went one last time to see him and have him cremated. Again, I am glad I was there, but this was definitely the most difficult part of all of it. I guess it would be no different than putting a "shovel full of dirt" on a grave, but seeing the people push him into the cremation unit was a bit tougher than I expected. Something very final about that. I then was able to personally start the unit up to begin the cremation process.
I will get back to writing some lighter notes soon, I promise... May 25 Bjarne Riis, Weezer, and weather...The chaos that is professional cycling has taken yet another bizarre turn with Bjarne Riis confessing that he doped for his '96 TdF win. While I am not suprised by anything anyone can say about doping in cycling, I still am reeling from the overload of people admitting/getting caught. It seems so surreal. I think there are/were a few cyclists that, for whatever reason, I believe don't have to dope. Guys like Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Miguel Indurain and possibly Lance Armstrong are the ones that everyone else try to keep up with. Everyone else is doping to keep pace. These multiple time champions are some sort of genetic freakshows that give them the ability to recover, suffer, etc. more than anyone else. So, Bjarne Riis admitting to doping is not a suprise. He was coming off of the first 5 x consecutive winner of the TdF in Big Mig. He had to do something to win, doping was it. Ironically, he cannot be stripped of his title, but he could "symbolically" give his maillot jaune back. Who would be the recipient? The person who placed 2nd that year...Jan Ullirich. That would be like Barry Bonds turning over the batting title to Jason Giambi.
Does anyone out there realize how much Weezer kicks ass? I have been rocking them the last few days and they are truly awesome. The only Weezer album I didn't have on the iPod was Pinkerton which I just picked up on iTunes. Very good. Do yourself a favor and listen to Weezer if you haven't in a while. You'll enjoy it.
Last, but not least, in true Colorado fashion, the weather is cool and wet for Memorial Day weekend. I had to go to Boulder two nights ago and from Monument to Castle Rock was almost a white-out from snow. May 23rd and it was blizzarding. What the hell? Oh well, at least we won't burn to the ground this summer.
I'll talk to you soon or when it comes out that the Pope is doping... May 18 Rockin' wives, Floyd Landis and doping...Today was the finish line in a fuckin' marathon for my wife. She graduated summa cum laude with a BA in English from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. She is a rock star. She busted out a 4.0 GPA for the entire time she was at UCCS. While being the best mom in the world. While being a totally cool wife. I am in awe of her and her accomplishment. And if I was any more proud of her, my chest will swell up the to the size of Dolly Parton's.
Now, onto the three ring circus that is the Floyd Landis case that has finally gone before the USADA. What in the hell is going on in California? Does everything that comes out of that case have to be so fucking bizarre? Landis has had more stories about why he tested positive than the Bush administration has had about why we went to Iraq. Then, last week, there was the whole Armstrong/USADA story which had conspiracy written all over it. Now, we have Greg LeMond testifying that he confided sexual abuse to Landis last summer and now Landis' manager was using this info as blackmail against LeMond testifying. Holy shit. If this was a movie, you wouldn't believe it because it would seem too outrageous. Yet here it is, unfolding right before our eyes. Landis keeps slipping down the ladder of public opinion. But I have to wonder why LeMond is testifying anyhow. He spoke out against Armstrong and now is on the stand against the one other US champion. LeMond's seeming jealousy has always mystified me. He should be proud of the path he paved and the legacy he left, yet he comes off like a spoiled little brat saying "I should have been a 5 time champion". His excuses of getting shot then some sort of fatigue syndrome that caused his retirement ring a bit hollow with me. They seem to be more like excuses than reasons. Regardless, this whole thing is a cluster fuck and whatever happens, I don't think the truth will be told. I think Landis doped, the French lab set him up and the WADA and USADA are a bunch of losers.
Which brings me back to my last point, which I have said before (see my post on Feb. 28th) none of this will stop until we quit watching. Did you ever see the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VI from the seventh season (the Simpsons, by the way, is the hands down greatest TV show in the history of TV)? In this episode, all the advertisements come to life after Homer steals the donut off of the Lard Lad Donuts display (which looks suspiciously like JB's Big Boy) and terrorize the city of Springfield. The "monsters" die after Neil Sadaka creates a catchy jingle called "Don't Watch" and the people quit watching or caring about these "ads". (Which has so much truth. If we still cared, we'd still be watching "Where's the Beef?" ads.) Which is like all the dopers in professional sports. We either need to quit caring if our sports heroes are taking drugs and just watch for the entertainment value like WWF wrestling, OR we need to quit watching and they will eventually go away. If we don't watch, the sponsors will dry up, and if they dry up, there will be no money (which drives all of this) and they will stop. So, will we quit watching or quit caring? I don't think either will happen, unfortunately. We will still watch and cheer for the fastest, strongest, most charismatic athlete and then want to catch him doing drugs. Have fun. I will be out riding my bike...
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