MEMORY LANE........

While perusing Dano's blog, I clicked on the London Calling album cover as instructed to check out the Brand New Cadillac video. Then I scrolled down the other vids and stumbled on this and this.......
closed my eyes and it 1979 all over again (only without the hash and Heineken).
The Aragon ballroom in Chicago was the place. I was 16 or 17 years old. Still one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

Gosh....I hope my kids don't read this.

Merry Christmas.

WHAT'S UP??.........

My blog vacation is over and I am once again ready to entertain..........(1 out of every 20 or so posts).

Not a whole lot happnen' lately.

-My annual "exercise in futility" of attempting to get smaller by lifting weights is under way.

-Been doing a little diving lately.....dumpster diving that is. I've found this dumpster that seems to produce an almost never ending supply of old bicycles. I've been able to give a few away to friends, keep a couple.....and one is so sweet that I am actually going to sell it for money...or keep it. (more on this when I get motivated to take some pics)

-In the last 2 months or so, we have put 1 dog and 1 cat to sleep and Jamie has moved out. It kinda sucks, but at the same time things have gotten quite "roomy" at Mi Casa de Esperanza (ask Carlos for translation)

-Barack Obama may very well turn out to be a decent president...time will tell, but I'll betcha he would have taken at least one of those stinky loafers right to the pie-hole.

JULIE WOLFS SHEBOYGAN PHOTOS...............

I asked her if she was aware that they were having a bike race??











She said...DUH!!!!! I got a picture of your ass....ya ass.

4-3.................

Yup.....That's my record voting for the eventual winner in the last 7 presidential elections.

Do ya' think I got it right this time?

I don't vote along party lines, rather I cast my vote for "the man and the plan" while leaning heavily on my core beliefs. (Hillary came dangerously close to making that rhyme unusable)....Aahh heck..I coudda still used it..... Besides, I voted for her in 1996.

The pessimist in me says....The "out of touch fossil" was beaten by the "underqualified and evasive, big spender"

However...forever the optimist..
I say congrats to Barack Obama...you-da-man now. Talk is cheap. Let's see what you can do.

My advice.....Start choosing your friends better and become a better judge of character.... TODAY!!

I know, for those of you who say Bubba....you should practice what you preach...Yes, I still hang out with Randy and DaSug, but I'm not running for president of the United States of America.

Trust me...I would have had some advice for McCain had he won as well.

RIT'S ERECTION DAY..............................

Already voted?

Nuthin' else happening??

Kill some time here.......

photo by Kip Winger


BOO................

Dude........I finally went pro. I realize I've been sandbagging for quite a while now, so I decided to just cough up the cash-ola and get my upgrade.

This Saturday....
Don't forget about the Wisconsin Night Race Championship at Crystal Ridge. Registration @ 5:30 and racing @7pm.
Yeah...Yeah... there is all kinds of cross racing this weekend, but it's all goin' down in Milwaukee as well and I know you lunatics can't get enough. So get there.

TO THE FOLLOWERS OF THIS PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A BLOG.......

I expect BOTH of you to show up for a night ride this evening on the trails of Tosa.

Hey.....I know it's late notice, but since when has anyone looked to this blog to get accurate information in a timely manner??

I shall depart "Mi Casa De Esperanza" at exactly 5:30 pm and head to the bridge in Tosa at 6pm in hopes of finding some folks there.

HMMMM.....LET'S SEE........

One has a hottie for a running mate.....and the other is gonna let me drink for free?


Suppose that every day, 10 men go out for beer and the bill for all 10 comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this: The first 4 men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay $1. The sixth would pay $3. The seventh would pay $7. The eighth would pay $12. The ninth would pay $18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59. So, that' what they decided to do. The 10 men drank in the bar every day & seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers, he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the 10 now cost just $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first 4 men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other 6 men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by 6 is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man & the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, & he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay. And so: The fifth man, like the first 4, now paid nothing (100% savings). The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings). The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28%savings). The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings). The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings). The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings). Each of the 6 was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. 'I only got a dollar out of the $20', declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right', exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got 10 times more than me!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. Why should he get $10 back when I got only 2? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first 4 men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!' The 9 men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the 9 sat down & had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even 1/2 of the bill!

SINCE I'VE BEEN ACCUSED OF HAVING A MAN CRUSH..........

I got to thinkin'....No, not about Jonathan Page....I got to thinkin' what blog couldn't be spruced up a bit by having some pics of fast biking ladies on it?

So here's 1 thru 6 from Sunday's race.

Thanks to Dano, I'm so homo-phobic now the boys get the back page and I'm eating my hotdogs sideways.

PLANET BIKE CUP..............









Jonathan Page's Planet Bike Cup..........


More pics here.

CHEQUAMEGON 08.....................

The weekend was a blast again this year.
I have come to realize that unless you are a fastguy.....The 40 should be taken lightly....Coors lightly.

So, instead of taking it easy on Friday and hittin' the sack early so I could be up at the buttcrack of dawn to set my bike out towards the front......I decided to ride some sweet singletrack on Friday (not too hard of a ride...just hard enough to rip off one of my crank arms) Raw power is way over-rated.

I then decided a few good beers...followed by a few Coors lights....followed by a few more good beers was a better idea than a good nights sleep and setting out my bike.

Besides..this year I had a prefered start. They prefered I start in the back with the rest of the humps. So start in the back is what I did.

In case you fastguys didn't know......the back is the new front.

The hillarious shit you get to witness back there is worth the price of registration and then some.
Like the jackass that slid off the course face first into a patch of poison ivy. He deserves everything he gets the way he was riding. And then there's the guy that had a boombox strapped to his rear rack jammin' with the volume cranked just to name a few. I rode with him for 2 Kid Rock tunes and then moved on.

I rode the entire race with teammates John Timm and Mike Gietner. Everytime I crossed the redline I would back it off only to come around the next corner to see John and Mike softpedaling waiting for me to get back on. That was working just fine until those two stopped to visit our sponsor quick.....that's when I made my break only to get caught again on Firetower Hill. We kept our little blue train rollin' until the end with me jumping to the front whenever I saw a camera.

Speaking of trains....how about the three headed monster that was Adventure 212? Three of the top 8 spots is a pretty nice day's work.
I read that the best gameface in mountainbiking took the front and actually lead the race for a few miles. That would have made for a good photo for sure.

So there you have it.....good friends, good food, good fun.....and Coors light.

GUSTO................................

Gus woke up yesterday waiving the white flag signifying he was ready to retire. Not to worry..There won't be any teary press conference, followed by a change of heart and a comeback....Gus was ready for retirement for sure.
This shit is never easy, but we were lucky to have him for a year and a half.......What a great dog...

In lighter news...
Rust on my can of big air hints that I may be stretching my good luck a little too far.

I'm off to Chequamegon.

NO LONGER ON THE FENCE.........

Forget the midgit sidekick.....McCain wins.

PARENTS....DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE?.....

24-9........ Where were you?







A few more here

MY BROTHER WAS READING MY BLOG AGAIN......


He was explaining the Sicilian mafia reference of oranges and impending death.

It seems that the above photo hints that I may not be around much longer.


The presence of oranges in all three Godfather movies indicates that a death or a close call will soon happen. The Senator is framed for murder after playing with oranges at the Corleone house, and Johnny Ola brings an orange into Michael's office before the attempt on Michael's life. Fanucci eats an orange just before he is gunned down and Michael is eating an orange (it looks like an apple, but it is an orange) while plotting to kill Roth. Plus, Marlon Brando as Vito puts an orange peel in his mouth prior to his death.

––Peter Cowie, Coppola: A Biography•
The Godfather was the highest grossing film in history at the time it was released. It is still one of the highest grossing films in history.

Tony Soprano was also eating an orange in the second to last episode when he was talking to Carmella at the beach house and we all know what happened to him.....
Oh wait...actually none of us know what happened to him.


Anyway....I ask you this.......Who would want to harm little ol' Bubba??

BARIST-OFF


Jamie participated in her first barista "throw-down" competition type thing at Alterra on Humbolt tonight and Julie and I headed down to cheer her on Super-fan style. This was a "sexy latte" contest judged on appearance only.....I don't think any of them even were drank....drinked...or drunk.


Jamie taking a few last minute tips from her co-worker and coach Alex.....


Game on........


Judging by the oooh's, aaah's, and high fives I think she will do pretty good, but how would I know. To this day the only thing I've ever had at Alterra is black coffee....but I'm threatening.. that looks pretty tasty.

NOTE TO SELF....

Don't give your camera to DaSug to take your podium shot ever again.


I'd like to think mine are a little nicer.



1 thru 7........

CHOCOLATE O CLARE........

Kenny farted on the podium. The guy from Minnesota thought it was funny....I didn't think so.

Some pics here.

I was tagged by Rachael....thanks.

1. I am a huge procrastinator (especially when it comes to things like this) which is partly why it took me the better part of a week to respond to being tagged.

2. I have an extremely low tolerance for mainstream country music.

3. I have no backbone when it comes to my kids...

4. I was a 7 handicap when I played golf in high school. I can still hit a golf ball a country mile, but now have no clue as to which direction it will go.

5. I always wanted to be Keith Richards when I was a little kid. I'm not so sure about that any more though. Have you seen that guy lately?

6. I'm not a big fan of fruit and really have to struggle to eat it. I've been telling my wife for 20 years that I need to start eating more of it. Now, when I say it she just gets annoyed.

I don't think there is anyone left to tag.