Team

This is a question that has wracked my mind over continuously since I started riding. In all honesty I'm not entirely sure if I can even say my own opinion is not somewhat biased, but from what I can understand its something along the lines of " a group of like minded individuals with a common goal. "

Case in point...

Team Beer: A team of pub goers
Team Cthulu: A team of metal
Team Ironclad: A team of late 20 somethings
Team Guinness: A team of 40 somethings
Team Cyclisme: A team of enthusiasts
Team PSU: A team of college students?

During Collegiate season, yes




During OBRA season,

?

Da bidness at Marymoor

compared to...




It was the opposite at Marymoor the other day but it really does add new meaning to the phrase " traction speed "

BKW

While Belgian Knee Warmers always puts out good race photography, I also always appreciate they're insight when it comes to race politics and tactics. Read the last two posts about Armstrong and Boonen. Both are quite enjoyable.

Stupidity costs 10.00$

As the weather is ramping up to summer status I am now yet again finding, or rather falling upon, some of the blank spots with my knowledge of bicycle parts/mechanics. Over the past year I've experienced various mechanical failures, not only including loose crank arms, broken seat posts, bent handle bars, broken derailleurs, etc..., and yesterday after a relatively good streak of incident free days I was once again humbled.


The Seat Post Binder Bolt:










A relatively simple part of the bike most notable for the excellent job it does in keeping the seat post from falling, yet yesterday I truly understood the meaning of the saying, " don't over tighten the bolt or you'll fuck it up "; and preceded to over tighten the bolt, and thus fuck things up.






Luckily the damage was not permanent and fortunately enough fixable. So with that a big ups to Peter from 21st Cycles, I believe this would be the third or fourth time you've been present during one of my points of stupidity


EPIC WIN


~DBF

Vanity costs $8.99

At least according to specialized bicycles. I was recently on their website looking for new sets of road shoes when I came across this little number...
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=40468

Of course Rivercity has them for exactly the same price, and yet they do not have the white version. With shipping at about nine dollars this would be heracy if anyone ever found out that I was tempted to order them, what with the push in Portland to get people to keep going to bike shops rather than the internet.

And yet I fail at this as well...
http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.cfm?SKU=17144&item=50-2103&slitrk=search&slisearch=true

perhaps the mother of all online retailers, Performance has once again roped me in what with their low, low prices.

Perhaps if I were a rich dentist things would be easier.

Cody

There's a fragility in opinion that I think I no longer can say that I am immune to.


It was a feeling a haven't truly encountered for some time; true objective sadness. Yesterday when I was talking to my father I learned that one of my families three dogs was diagnosed with liver cancer and that it had already spread to his lungs terminally. At first I didn't really know what to say, and truthfully there wasn't much to be said.

He received the shot today sometime in the afternoon not a day after my knowledge

He had done nothing to anyone, at times he could be yappy like any other small dog, and of course sometimes that yappiness transcended into a full scale hate factor where I was the one wishing death, but given the opportunity to strap him down to a table and give him the lethal injection would I? Absolutely not; and here, all of a sudden, something completely beyond my power does, in such a short span of time that it throws me into shock, almost like a joke. A fatal infallible truth; and now he's gone.

It was the first time I've heard my father cry in a long time. As a kid I was very lucky, both of parents despite their eccentricities had a firm grasp on reality and were seldom brought to tears; brought to vulnerability, and despite this I hear the sniffling of my mother over the phone, and the hushed crying of my father in the background.

No one is an island. I thought I was beyond emotion, and yet all it took was the unmitigated pattern of truth and fate. I'm not a religious person but I do wish a peace upon my family, and a peacefulness in the dog that I now recognize to be good.


Danny

POINT OF INTEREST FOR THE DAY:
Generally speaking I think its a good thing to live in the present, although recently I've found myself doing the exact opposite.

School has been good to me thus far. This term I'll be finishing up FIlm History which turned out to be far more interesting than ever previously thought. Overall I'm glad I'm a film major, maybe its not the most conventional study, but it beats solving math problems.

The OSU and WWU/UW races went very well, more and more I'm finding I like Criterium's much more than Road Races. They remind me of Cross and I like that.

yeah