The New Dirt Rag: Now twice as absorbent

Dirt Rag magazine has such fine taste in photos. Is it any wonder it's so cool?

Skedaddle on out and grab a look at Issue 119, which is hitting newsstands. This photo, which I shot (and used on the blog) earlier this winter, is featured in "The Rider's Eye." The shot is of my old Trek commuter, which now does double duty as my winter bike and my son's summer ride. I built it up and rode it for years, and I consider it "on loan" during summer.

When he saw the magazine, my son checked out the photo and said, "Hey, those are my brakes."

Not many people would be so eager to claim blue anodized cantilevers. But forget what he says. I found 'em at the spring bike swap, I put 'em on the bike, and I maintain 'em. So they're mine!

Besides, the kid rarely rides anyway. (I don't know where I went wrong with that boy. Maybe it was a bad idea to come home muddy and bloody so often when he was an impressionable toddler.)

I was reading the Alaska forum on mtbr.com the other day and saw this hideous banner ad across the top of the page. First of all, why would anyone advertise a children's sing-a-long video to a bunch of mountain bikers? And, more importantly, why would anyone even create such a thing with Rosanne Barr?

Admittedly, I've never heard her sing. But I've heard her speak, so I suspect her singing is right up there with the inhumane frequencies of Yoko Ono, fingernails on a chalkboard, your lover passionately screaming the wrong name, and the sound of carbon fiber meeting the top of a garage door.