You have got to check out this guy's blog. Very funny! You could also win some eCash if he doesn't make his weekly weight goal.


Lance Armstrong is in the news again: this time some folks claim that they have incontravertable proof that Lance is guilty of blood doping. Here is my question: How? The Tour officials have cameras in his hotel room, police following him 24/7, and they literally watch him pee in a cup on a daily basis. There is no conceivable way that he could be doping. On a side note, maybe the folks that used to keep an eye on Lance Armstrong could start looking for Osama Bin Laden.



College football season officially starts this Saturday. I say it offically starts then because Georgia's first game is Saturday. The NFL kicks it off the following week. Too bad I won't be able to watch any of the Pro games since I'm still on the evil nightshift schedule. Hopefully that will change soon. Since I don't want to follow in Dooce's footsteps, I'll refrain from commenting further on anything work related.

So there are certain things that I expect when I am out riding my road bike. At some point during my ride my body will rebel against me; every fiber of my being crying out to stop the insanity. This type of reaction is normal, as it has happens every time I exercise. Also, if I'm riding with Heather, at least one dog will chase me. My knee-jerk reaction when this happens is to kick it into high gear and outrun the dog. The unfortunate consequence of this is that Heather is usually left to fend for herself. Coincidentally, it is usually at this point that Heather realizes that she didn't fill her water bottles up for the ride. The one thing that any cyclist that has ever ridden on a road has had to contend with, however, is traffic. Most of the roads that I usually ride are fairly lightly traveled, but I still encounter the occasional idiot that thinks it's fun to buzz the cyclist. This idiot is usually overweight, sometimes smoking, normally yells something at me, and is almost always driving something that gets about 2 miles to the gallon. This past weekend I came to a realization, it seems that the majority of the rude and inconsiderate drivers that I encounter have "W" stickers on their back windows. This came as a startling realization to me, as my political leanings almost always fall to the right of some people that I know. Of course the thought did occur to me that being in a conservative state, there are bound to be more Republicans, and therefore the likelihood of encountering a rude one is higher. What disturbed me however, was the thought that maybe there is a sense of entitlement among conservatives. A sense that since those of us on the right side of the aisle tend to be considered the "religious right, " we shouldn't have to be considerate of anyone or anything. Perhaps it's a "if I want to my gas guzzling monster suv while smoking my cigarettes, then some silly guy in spandex should get out of my way" mentality. Maybe I'm not making much sense, and maybe I'm being paranoid, but I know I don't want anyone to describe me that way.

If anyone who reads this is anywhere near the metro-Braselton area, you should seriously check out Addictive Cycles. Scott and Grant are awesome, and both are dedicated to promoting the sport of cycling, not just pushing bikes on people. If you ride, they deserve your support. Check their website out with the link above.

I just thought that I would share something with you that I found to be mildly amusing. While spell-checking my previous post, blogger choked on the word blog. That's right, blogger's spell-check does not recognize blog to be a part of the English language, instead suggesting bloc or block among others.

Many thanks to Heather for designing this awesome new template for me! She is infinitely more talented than I could ever hope to be.

Several weeks ago, a 27 Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes, was shot to death by British anti-terrorism police in an underground rail station. The police, mistaking the young man for a suicide bomber, shot him repeatedly in the head as he attempted to flee, hoping to keep the young man from detonating any explosives he may have been hiding. The British police have since endured searing criticism for their actions, some are even calling them terrorists (and believe it or not, it's not the Irish Catholics that are saying it). Here is my problem with this: If an anti-terrorism officer with body armor and an automatic weapon tells me to get on the ground, then I will break speed records to be face down in the mud. First of all, this guy fit all of the profiles for a suicide bomber: He was dark-skinned (as in he may have been of Eastern descent), he was wearing heavy clothing in the middle of summer, and when he was confronted by police, this joker took off running. Now put yourself in the shoes of a police officer trying not only to survive, but also charged with keeping everyone around you alive. Nine times out ten, I would have shot the guy too. One other bit of information, Menezes was in the country illegally, as his Visa had expired two years earlier. I'm quite certain that the police did not know that, nor did his illegal status automatically make him a threat, but he certainly wasn't the picture of sainthood. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this incident was not a terrible tragedy, just that the British police are not the blood-thirsty zealots that some would make them out to be.

One more thing that I must mention with regards to my previous post: I sincerely doubt that I would have continued riding this long had it not been for the support of my lovely wife. Jenn has not only given me loads of encouragement, she has wholeheartedly taken up the sport herself. Jenn doesn't have the testosterone-laced competitve drive that I have, or she would undoubtedly ride circles around everybody on the road. As it is, she is a very powerful rider that doesn't quit until she's conquered whatever [dementor] hill happens to be in front of her. Oh, and she looks way better in spandex than I do.

For the three or four of you that know when my birthday is (out of the 6 that read this, that is), this post is not about my birthday, but my bike's. That's right, my bike turned 400 miles old on Sunday. I know, I know, that may not seem like a lot to some people that ride 400 miles in 3 weeks (Tim), but to me it was a milestone of sorts. Regardless of any comparisons that may or may not exist, watching the odometer roll over to 400 miles was pretty special to me if for no other reason than the health benefits that I have seen from riding. Since I bought that bike in April, I've lost about 10 lbs and my blood pressure, once alarmingly high for an otherwise healthy 25 year old, has reduced dramatically. Right now I'm doing pretty well to get on my bike about 3 days a week, mostly due to my nightshift work schedule. However, by next season I'd like to be riding over 100 miles a week. Then I can post about my 1000 mile old bike!