A brief hiatus

A riding partner provided this photo from our recent ride on the 24 Hours of Kincaid course. Nice how my graying beard matches my helmet and bike, eh? (You have to click for a larger version to see that scary detail.) This turn comes in one of my favorite sections of the race. You put your chin to the bar, duck under a fallen tree that scrapes your Camelbak, make a right on some off-camber roots as you enter a dense forest, curve left around the switchback (above) and then shoot down a little rolling singletrack before making a hard left toward the meadow. Sweet stuff, even at 3 a.m.

I'm outta here for a few days. Gotta make a business trip to Whistler, B.C. And no, I won't be doing any of that downhill/freeride stuff while I'm there. The season has already closed — it was snowing on the ski-mountain web cam yesterday afternoon — and besides, I'm a cross-country guy. I like to earn my downhills the hard way and I have no interest in wearing body armor. I did the high school football thing many years ago and that was the last time I felt the need to participate in a sport that required padding and a facemask.

I'll do a day of sightseeing in Vancouver, then cruise up to Whistler for a day of meetings.

A few quick links before I go:

Please, for the love of the planet, someone stop this woman. Hey lady, ever hear of a condom? You assume God wants you to spit out kids like a Pez dispenser; have you ever considered that maybe he'd like you to take birth control pills?

On the subject of saving the planet, I just finished reading "The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power" by Travis Culley. Check it out. It's a great look into the world of bike couriers from an author who loves bikes and what they can do for the world. Sure, he gets a little melodramatic and self-righteous from time to time, but he's more often eloquent and thought-provoking. Fine effort by a young writer and a permanent addition to my book shelf.

I returned to the Internet Archive this week because my son found out that his algebra teacher is a Deadhead and mentioned to him my habit of downloading entire Grateful Dead concerts and burning them to CDs. I had to double-check the URL and send it to the teacher. Regardless of your interests, take a cruise through the site. It's a treasure trove of video files, texts, music, etc., all available for legal downloading. Start poking around over there, and you can kiss your evening goodbye.

I'll close with a quote from one of my favorite authors, courtesy of the folks at BRAIN:

"The good news is, they only eat homeless people . . . and they pee gasoline."
—Kurt Vonnegut to The Washington Post, delivering a joke about Martians that land in Manhattan.