The Choice of Roger De Vlaeminck.

It may not be easy but if you look hard enough you can find the chewing gum that powered Roger De Vlaeminck and the Brooklyn Cycling Team to victories throughout Europe in the 1970's. Keep looking as anything worth having is worth working for.

Bite Me.

There are many theories and much heated debate (ok, maybe not) over the ever-present medal biting phenomenon, but some of my favorites are these.

• The custom is a Freudian reversion to oral stimulation after the stress of competition.
• Romantic observers believe a kiss is not enough to show affection for the medal and a love bite is better.
• I finally won! Now I can eat whatever I want without worrying about my weight all the time.
  
• This thing feels way too chintzy to be real gold.

Hmm, I'm tending to believe the Freudian theory now that I think about it.

Bikes.

Yeah I know, nobody's buying cars or motorcycles these days, yadda yadda yadda. That includes Harley, as they are having slow sales now too after a gazillion straight years of continuous record growth. Even though I'm more of a Sporty or Middlefingertotheman Barhopping Chopper guy, I had to share a pic of the new V-Rod Muscle and Marisa Miller, Harley's new models. Can't help it, I love bikes and gals in leather.

Three in a Row.

First off I wanna say Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served and those who continue to serve in uniform for this great country of ours. Thanks. Now, on to my ride today. I know November was going to be an easy month for me riding wise, but since I had the day off work and the weather is beautiful I went out again. Same route as yesterday taking me on Marriottsville Road up RT99 then RT32 to Eldersburg and back home on Liberty past the Reservoir. This is one of my favorite rides because it's relatively flat and only takes about 1.5hours to do if I don't have much time. There's one stretch on 32 that is a slight downhill for several miles and I can average well over 30mph. It almost feels like motorpacing. That makes three days in a row and over 6 hours of riding. I'll take it!

Clearing out the Pipes.

I got out of work a bit early today so I hopped on the bike for a quick 1.5hr/30 mile ride. I went really hard but felt pretty good out there. The best part was getting home and having a bowl of piping hot soup and a cup of tea. I have a day off work tomorrow so I just might go for another one.

Ridin with the Bro.

My brother drove down yesterday with his new Ridley Excaliber so we could go for a ride. That is one really impressively designed bike, especially in the steerer/head tube area and the rear triangle. It's got very agressive S shaped seat stays and chain stays which I am sure give the bike a nice level of vertical compliance. In fact, the rear triangle looks almost identical to those on the newest Pinarello Prince. I didn't get to ride it this time, but look for a review here soon after I get a chance to put it through the wringer in the mountains of Northeastern PA. Anyway, on to the ride.

It was a perfect autumn day here in Maryland with bright sun and wind with temps in the low 50's and after a lazy morning breakfast and of ogling bikes we finally got out of the house around 11:00am. Our plan was to go somewhere over 40 miles hitting some of my favorite riding roads including a few steep hills. My brother is always in great shape being a runner, but doesn't have many miles of riding in his legs. He's pretty tough though so I wasn't worried about him keeping up. Besides that, I have cut down a lot on my riding with November being pretty much a vacation away from the bike. Up St. Thomas and across the Hunt Valley we headed. There were a lot of other riders out there on the roads as usual. I think everyone who rides in this area knows exactly where the best roads for training are. We passed a few Kelly Benefits Strategies teammates of mine heading in the other direction at high speed. After going up over the steep, but short Piney Grove hill, both decided that at it's steepest point it's steeper than Red Hill, but quite a bit shorter. Red Hill was the hill we'd always end our rides on as a kids back home. Later we stopped in Butler at the little general store/liquor/post office for a hot coffee and coke. Some guy was posting signs for a yellow lab he found and was looking for it's rightful owner, beautiful looking dog. He had it in his jeep.

From there we headed down Falls Road, then over towards Caves, back to St. Thomas and home. I think we ended up going about 42 miles at a pretty relaxed pace. My brother's back was killing him and his legs cramped up pretty badly, but other than that was in good shape. That Ridley looks pretty laid out in a Tom Boonen way so the sore back was understandable. He took a nap on the couch after so I guess he was pretty tired from the ride. He's gonna be a really strong rider if he keeps at it since his build is perfect for it. Now he's got the bike to make sure he gives it a real chance. I'm hoping he'll even do a few races next year.

Overall, it was a great ride and I can't wait til we get a chance to do it again sometime.

So What is it Really Like?

They say your home is where your heart is. I just finished reading A Dog in a Hat, by Joe Parkin and it seems to me that Joe's heart and home belong in some nondescript town in Belgium racing a kermis in wind, rain and cold at over 50km/hr. This book is about Parkin's quest to become a professional bike racer in Europe and how he went about doing exactly that. Reading it, I could feel a sense of melancholy in his words, probably brought on by the weather. There is much happiness to be found here too and I get the feeling Joe is, and should be, very proud of what he accomplished in some amazingly difficult situations. I don't want to spoil the story for anyone by going into details, but it's a page turner.

I only have two words for riders out there looking for something to read. READ IT!

In the Voting Booth.

Something hit me like a sack of potatoes while I was standing there alone in the voting booth earlier today. When I saw all the choices there on the computer screen in front of me I thought back to all the past elections I voted in and who I voted for. My first election was in 1988 and haven't missed any since. I picked a few winners and a few losers since then with a pretty good batting average going in. In previous elections I found myself voting for the lesser of two evils in pretty much every case. This one was much different though. This time I voted for the two people I knew with absolute conviction were the best for the job. Anyway, that was something new for me.

It's Time, Finally.

It's seems like it's been going on forever, but it's finally about time. All the promises have been made and there's only one thing left to do. Go Vote Everyone! Whoever wins, I wish Barack and John the absolute best of luck, let's hope for a nice uneventful next couple days before the next election season starts.

A Ride in the Country.

Today I had an interesting observation when leaving suburbia and riding out into the countryside of Maryland. Graffiti is now thriving not just in cities, but out in the land of beautiful horse farms and perfectly manicured lawns as well. Funny thing though, it's limited to spray painting on top of John McCain posters so far. I guess we won't have to worry about that after Tuesday.

Today's Ride: 30 miles, easy. I ran into Howard out there. Hardly recognized him in his spiffy new Castelli Euroduds.