"technicality generation"

This op-ed from the NYTimes the other day was about CT's Blumenthal as one of many examples of the "technicality generation". I can't help but feel it's applies just as well to the Floyd and Lance situation. How else can you react to the "I've never tested postitvie" defense? Everyone wants to be seen as right when the are acting wrong.
With all the effort of testing and the effort to thwart testing and the pressure to win and put on a show, I have to wonder if we even want anyone to be clean?

Daniel Higgs Say God 2LP

"Conveyor of the Holy Name of the Nameless".
I could(and probably will) nerd out over Dan Higgs for hours, but I will say just this.
Go buy it now

RJD

I recently posted that Ginn exchange about Dio from "Spray Paint the Walls". I have been down with Dio for awhile now. I remember in 8th grade when the a lot of the stoners at my school got to go see the Dio version of Sabbath and came back with the sick Mob Rules baseball shirts. I was jealous.
It wasn't too many years later when my former 3rd grade teacher asked me to take her son to see Twisted Sister. They were opening for......DIO!. This was maybe 83/84. I am guessing more likely last in line era. Didn't get a shirt as I was transitioning into a punk rock skateboarder at this point.
Dio rocked and the cutting edge laser light show must be pretty lame by today's standards.
Regardless this dude went hard til he was 67 years old. Respect and Thanks for all the tunes.

check over here for another Dio appreciation.

FACT

riding your road bike on dirt roads is fun. fast, sketchy, and fun. pros know it, you know it, and I know it. It is a fact. But Why?
Oregon knows it

Italy knows it

France knows it -Tro Bro Leon

Denmark knows it-GP Henning

NY State knows it

VT knows it (** I realize it's mainly mtbs in the video, but work with me)

MA/D2R2 knows it!


Get Stoked and go do it.

things done changed

VS

When I first got into bikes, the one part of a wheel that people obsessed over was the hub. High Flange Campy hubs made everyone drool. Grease Ports as well. A gleaming machined hub got everyone a twitter. Over the last few years you rarely hear anyone geek out over hubs, the last 3 or 4 years has seen the ascendancy of the rim. Mainly do to carbon fiber tech. It is hard to miss people drooling over Edges or Zipps or Reynolds. I was holding a Lightweight a few weeks ago in VT. The total package of lightness was amazing, but since the entire wheel is bonded, how could one part stand out? It's a wheel system now.
One opinion offered by the Major is that hubs tech has been pushed as far as possible so advancements on the rim would be the next thing to get highlighted
Even retro grouch types focus on rims (non carbon of course)
I think it is more an art vs industry type thing. We used to marvel over the gleam and machining of the hub-the artistry. But overall there has been a shift towards the inexorable march of product development and weight weenies, and we look at the gram count before the picture.
I am no retro type and definitely drool over Edge rims, but it is sad to me to see the cult of the hub fade away.

naming this post as I did allowed me to find this-ouch
this is better
time to ride

Lame Sunday

I had a crappy day on the bike Sunday. To cap it off, all my camera type devices were malfunctioning. Shitty photos all around. Here is a short Zapruder quality clip of the Cat 3 finish. Presented for dubious historical value only......

The only thing worse than a bike blog all about watts, is a bike blog all about no watts. So outside of observing that my weight to powerless ratio was very good, I have no comment on my day. I will say that this race was well run. My general feelings on the day can best be describe as unfufilled

a few parting shots. I guess since I was there-might as well share, but by no means are these crucial shots.



some blurry backbay action....
1st,2nd, and 3rd came out of this blurry mess

the battle for top 20ish. Why was my camera in fail blog mode?

compare and contrast

Read this.

Then Read this.

Can you guess where I am going? Maybe they should pick a different name or historicdal reference point....