I was in Salt Lake City over the weekend

But I much rather would have been at the Party on Palomar.

The Facts Pour In: Redlands Triathlon linked to Parking Scandal

Some investigative journalism on behalf of the Redlands Daily Facts prior to posting random letters such as Ms. West’s would clarify that the Mentone resident was referring to the road closures due to the 10th Annual Redlands Triathlon/Duathlon, which took place on Sunday, February 8 at Redlands East Valley High School.

The incident was not due to a group of renegade cyclists as Ms. West's letter and the Redlands Daily Facts led the public to believe.

When reached for comment, a representative of the Redlands Daily Facts said, “Oh.”

The event, which was held in rainy conditions attracted hundreds of competitors and was won by Kyle Simmons of Redlands. The 17-year old finished the 3.1-mile run, 10-mile bike portion, and 100-yard swim in a time of 45:30. Winning the Female division was 38-year old Polly Crawford of Temecula with a time of 53:26.

Justin Ogan, a sophomore from Yorba Linda, who was using the event as a training race rated the course and overall venue as average. When asked if he’d compete in the event again next year, Ogan said, "Probably."

Just the Facts

Dear Ms. West,
I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume that the Redlands Daily Facts somehow managed to screw up your letter to the editor during the editing process, or didn’t live up to its title and check the facts before publishing your letter because your letter makes no sense whatsoever based on the following actual facts:

1. Colton Ave in Mentone is about as wide as the 10 Freeway. The umbrella carrying friend could have parked across the street from Ms. West’s house without interfering with traffic, instead of parking a quarter of a mile down the street. Parking is legal on the north and south sides of Colton Ave in Mentone except for one stretch of road on the south side just east of Crafton Ave; however there are no houses on the north side of the street unless Ms. West’s present address is a fenced-in power transformer.

2. A quarter mile is 1,320 feet. The average bicycle is 4 feet in length. If Ms. West’s friend had to park a quarter of a mile away, that means there must have been about 330 cyclists parked single-file west of Ms. West's home and 330 cyclists parked east of her home on Colton Ave. 660 cyclists is one hell of a lot of bicycles. Why don’t I know about this group ride of 660 apparent a-holes that aren’t willing to move for a car trying to park and why doesn't the friend have a functioning horn?

3. If Ms. West had to walk a quarter of a mile in the rain to her friend’s car, does that mean that these 660 cyclists were themselves sitting on the side of the road in the rain? The plot thickens.

I have a suggestion for Ms. West that could help her with some of her problems. Stop reading or relying on the Redlands Daily Facts for your source of news! Its title alone is false representation of a newspaper and a form of false advertising. I suggest she read VeloNews or Cyclingnews.com.

Good thing this Graham Watson photo taken at the ToC didn't occur outside of Ms. West's house...

Although it very well could happen because these scantily clad cavaliers happen to live in the Redlands/Mentone/Loma Linda area and that's a fact.

Vans, Bike Racing & Punk Rock. Oi!

The last page of the March VeloNews is a piece written by road racer Adam Myerson titled “Get in the Van.” After only reading the title, I’m already intrigued because, A; I love vans, and B; the illustration that accompanies the editorial is of a van with a Black Flag sticker on the rear window, and by now you know that I’m fascinated with the history of punk rock. In fact, I consider myself the Shelby Foote of punk rock, and when I say punk rock, I mean as in a lifestyle, not as in a form of music. Most music that gets that label, especially in the last 20 years is garbage. And let’s face it, most of the original stuff was trash too, but the way in which it was produced is significant.

In "Get in the Van", Myerson draws a parallel between the early do-it-yourself days of punk rock and the shoe-string-budget lifestyle of a bike racer. Both of these labors of love lifestyles are spent living day to day and enjoying every miserable minute of it. There are no team buses, no airplanes, and no big-money rider contracts. Just a van, a hotel room floor to sleep on, and a community pool of prize (or gig) money. It’s all about sacrifice, racing, and doing what it takes to get from one race to the next and with good enough form to make an impact. As a motivation message to his Mountain Khakis pro team teammates, veteran racer Myerson, pledges to rekindle the bike racing fire that originally started for him in 1987, and he asks them to do the same.

I am Adam Myerson. In fact, when Denise read his open letter to his teammates, she said it was if I wrote it myself. Starting first with motorcycle racing and now with bike racing, I have spent a good part of my life making the same sacrifices: sleeping in the back of trucks or on hotel floors; spending countless hours training or working on machinery instead of doing all the leisurely things that most people do; pining over parts, pieces, and components; fretting over food; living paycheck to paycheck so I could make it to one race after the next; sacrificing. Sure, there have been times when things have come easy, but those times are the result of all the sacrifice.

The old saying, "Misery loves company" applies well to this scenario. All of this suffering is much easier to cope with and more enjoyable if you have someone or a group of someones who can appreciate the lifestyle or lives it themselves. In this case, opposites don't attract. My best friends have been people just like me. These people aren’t always easy to come by and many aren’t always willing to stick around once they’ve gotten a real taste. They have to want to drink from the same bottle, and so does your family if they are going to support you. The reality of it is, if I’m sacrificing so much, then so are Denise and Ryder. You know what they say; addiction affects family and friends, which is why I don’t plan on doing this to them for too much longer.

A lot of times when I’m sitting around thinking, I think about how nice it will be to someday feel like I can actually sit around. Instead of it being bikes and racing, it will be rocking chairs, porches, patios, and beaches. It’s warm out, it’s clear, and The Clash’s "Straight to Hell" is playing in the background at a conversational volume. Unless of course, any of this rubs off on Ryder and then it will be bikes and racing and Richard Hell’s "Blank Generation" cranked up to 10 all over again.

I believe there are two kinds of people: Those who have great ambition, take chances, suffer a little bit, and experience youthful angst that soothes as they age; or those who experience great bitterness when they’re old because they sat around, developed a dormant existence, never got in the van, and let life pass them by. The latter is no way to live.

High score goes to the gallows

There are an alarming number of people in my office (three, so far) who never got the opportunity to see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland before the final curtain fell on the awe-inspiring attraction in February of 2005. On that cold winter day, Honest Abe was impeached and then replaced by Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years. Some of my fondest Disneyland memories are from sitting through Animatronic Abe’s speech, watching Mathew Brady’s Civil War paintings change in the background, and wondering what it would have been like to have bayoneted a Confederate in the face or have served under General Sherman’s army as it so gloriously burned Atlanta to the ground.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Disney. I love Disneyland, due mostly to nostalgia, but hate the Disney Corporation for their excessive commercialism. Upon exiting the Jungle Cruise, you can’t even buy a rubber snake anymore without mouse ears on it and you sure as hell aren’t going to find anything in the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop without Jack Sparrow’s likeness shouting out at you. And now it’s been announced that they’ve “tastefully” placed Disney characters inside It’s A Small World, and even integrated music from Disney films with the original music from the ride. What’s next, replacing the life-like animals on the Jungle Cruise with characters like Dumbo & Tigger?

I have the feeling that Lincoln was removed from Disneyland because the attraction didn’t sell any merchandise. You never saw anyone walking around the park wearing a fake beard or a top hat that they’d purchased after watching electric Lincoln site the Gettysburg Address. Personally, I would have sported both, just as long as they didn’t come with mouse ears attached.

But don’t despair. We may be in luck. There are rumors that The First 50 Magic Years will soon suffer its own assassination and be replaced by The Walt Disney Story Featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone who enters is handed a Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster, ‘a la John Wilkes Booth.

So I rode my trainer for almost 2 hours instead

Every now and then I'm actually glad that racing my bike isn't my job. For example, on Saturday I went to the Boulevard Road Race (a.k.a. Tour of California Prologue).

About an hour before my race, it began to snow.

About 45 minutes before my race, it began snowing real hard. At that, I said, screw this. This isn't my job. Plus I'm allergic to snow, rain, and the cold in general. I went home instead.

Sooner or later, my season is actually going to start.

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow and through the weekend. What’s the deal with that? The last few days have been rad, but no such luck for the road race this weekend. Just when I had my bike all dialed and ready to go I’m going to have to swap out the cork brake pads and carbon wheels. Or I could just live dangerously…

Last Friday night I hem and hawed around about doing the crit down in Imperial or doing the road race up around Solvang on Saturday. As it turns out, I did neither. I figured why start racing so early when I don’t need to, but now I kind of wish I would have gone to Imperial. Between Norm, Craig, Miller, Padgett, & Manning, they came away with a couple of wins and a pair of seconds. Woulda been fun to contribute to that.

I still got two good days of training in. On Saturday, Joey, Jamie, & I rode up to Angelus Oaks where there are still patches of snow on the side of the road. Then we came down and shot across Yucaipa so we could do Wildwood. I put in some pretty big efforts on both climbs, so when I hit San Timoteo Canyon solo and there was a headwind, I was pretty much hating life.

I figured the Sunday ride would be super casual since most everyone went racing on Saturday, but that wasn’t the case at all. Fresh off of two race wins, Norm was riding angry so that splintered the group into just 6 of us. Between the weight lifting workouts and Saturday’s ride, Sunday did me in. It was only about a 3-hour affair, but I still limped back to Mentone. I just gotta keep reminding myself that I’m supposed to feel like hell right now if I want to feel good when the MTB season is in full swing.

Last night they had a fund raiser dinner for the Redlands Bicycle Classic at Mikan and it was a pretty good time. I was a little disappointed in the turn-out. I expected more. I had raw fish and Denise had a teriyaki New York steak that was one of the best I’ve tasted in a long time. How’s that for a restaurant plug? I also had 3 pints of the Hangar 24 Orange Wheat, which made it just that more difficult to get up at 5 AM this morning to meet Kelly from work to ride Crafton. It was worth it though. I don’t do that ride enough and every time I do, I rediscover how great an area it is.

I just remembered that yesterday Ryder told me I smelled like a dog.


The trend lately in blogging is to post photos of food or post food and drink recipes on your blog. Here's my contribution.