how to become a better cyclist

obama lama ding-dong, or . . .

" why we love zippy the pinhead!"

1--trying to decide where to go on vacation?

2--need news? he tells you all you need to know!

3--he teaches you how to talk like a pinhead!

and so much more!!

[including FREE stuff]

why we love to cross

and

leadership for which we ALL can be thankful

senator chuck schumer, d-ny

December 1, 2008

Sean Petty

Chief Operating Officer

USA Cycling

1 Olympic Plaza,

Colorado Springs, CO 80909

Dear Mr. Petty:

I write to ask that you reconsider the application from the Tour of the Battenkill to replace the 2009 Tour of Georgia in 2009 on the UCI America Tour. As you know, the Tour of Georgia canceled its 2009 race, and I believe Tour of Battenkill in Washington County of New York State is the perfect event to be included on the tour. The Battenkill Valley is an idyllic region of Upstate New York that is prepared and excited to attract even more attention to its already-popular Tour of Battenkill event.

In just five years, the Tour of the Battenkill has become the largest amateur biking race in the country and winds through 60 exciting miles of the picturesque Washington Country. Twenty of the race's 60 miles are on harsh and unforgiving hard-packed dirt roads that emulate the legendary cobblestone courses in Belgium and northern France.
But unlike Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège or the Tour of Flanders, the Tour of the Battenkill takes place right here in New York and has rightfully earned the title of America's "Queen of the Classics." Last year drew 15,000 participants and spectators. This year the race is expected to attract over 20,000 people, creating an economic boon for Washington County and surrounding areas.
Granting the race a UCI 2.1 status will ensure that some of the top professional cyclists in the country will race on back roads of Washington County. Their participation will help fuel regional and national interest in the event and attract more people to the sport of cycling.

Unfortunately, due to the late cancellation of the Tour of Georgia the organizers of the Battenkill Race did not submit their application with USA Cycling until after the application deadline had passed. The UCI , however,
 has encouraged the organizers to file an application with them directly.
Having the support of USA Cycling for this event is critical. I respectfully ask that you re-consider the application, as I know that USA Cycling would not want to miss this exciting opportunity to fill an unanticipated gap in their 2009 schedule with one of the most exciting amateur biking races in the country.
Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to hearing from you on this matter. If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Sam Schaeffer in my office.
Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

the mostly reverend, preachin' to the choir

i received an email this morning. the writer said "here's a photo that xx took." i feared the worst, but check it out: no costumes, no capes, no microphones, no beers. just racing.

how 'bout that shit?

dealing with death

i'm not a particularly religious person, by what many would consider conventional measures. thanks goodness, i've passed that along to my daughter. now, she and i are getting to experience the growth and development of a set of ethical values and sense of spirituality in her first kid, a four year-old daughter. nyla, who attends a lutheran church's pre-school in her neighborhood [addie cautioned me when i first spied the literature about the school a couple years ago not to worry, that kids of many of her friends go there, and her friends share the same religious apprehensions that we do, and they said it really wasn't bad] has had to deal with the deaths of some close family members in her short life, including her dad's grandpa when she was just two. she and her great grandfather were good buddies, i think it's fair to say, even though he lived [to a ripe old age in the 90s] in oklahoma. he came to iowa a couple times, and she saw him there a few times, too. closer to home, though, she has dealt with the sudden death of duke, the family doberman, a little over a year ago. more recently, a playmate's family cat died. she assures me that it's okay, that the animals and people go to one of two places [and apparently interchangeably]: heaven, and/or one's dreams.

so that's a rather cool, benign way of assimilating things, i think. her way of doing the occasional pre-meal prayer is to tell me that i have to close my eyes before i eat. i think that's probably wise advice before doing many things.

a few weeks after duke died, they got another family "dog" -- a jack russell terrier. [i'm told that after a few years, this breed become less annoying. i think the actual mechanism is the offended person becomes more tolerant. i find it hard to believe that this little dog--bless her hyperactive metabolism--is capable of being less annoying. whatever...]

anyway, poor old dynah, the family weimeranner, is getting old, long in the tooth, and just generally decrepit. she's maybe 11, 12 years old. but she's not going to make it to christmas. her suffering has gotten too much for all of us. she's shown above with amelia, my borzoi-greyhound, and old duke, back in happier times for them, in 2005.

so addie called the vet this morning to make that call to arrange for dynah's last trip to the vet. nyla overheard it, and grabbed some paper and her crayons.

she's making a picture for dynah to take with her to heaven. i'll find out later, but i suspect it will include nyla's little brother jabari, and duke, among all the other key players in dynah's family. my religious zealot friends should probably save their hallelujahs for later, though. i would just remind you that i was raised in a pretty religious environment, and addie certainly has had enough exposure to religion that, if they had the kind of detectors for religion that they did for plutonium in silkwood, she'd have spent even MORE of her adolescence in the shower than she already did.

it doesn't make it any easier for addie, who has to make that drive to the vet sometime today. but it does make it a little easier for nyla, and for jabari, who will have this death process explained to him by nyla countless times over the next few years.

interesting events...

oh. my gawd. it's almost HERE!

oh. my gawd. it's almost here.