Winter Reading

Winter can be cold and dark, and since I have moved to MT has meant that I typically read more. Just finished reading "Where Men Win Glory" by John Krakauer, and it made the grade for me. Unlike his two other books I have read (Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heavan), Krakauer didn't jump around too much from year to year or story to story. Everything seemed to flow in a fairly linear path. While I was expecting him to take several opportunities to go out of his way to slam the Bush Administration for their role in the Iraq War, Afghanistan War, and the cover up of the circumstances surrounding Tillman's death, that never happened. With that if you have the free time, and are looking for something to read, check it out.

The other book I have read in the past three weeks has been "Among the Thugs" by Bill Buford. It is a glimpse inside the world of English soccer Hooligans (if you have ever seen Eurotrip, you got a glimpse of what this may be), and after reading the first section detailing a riot in Europe I was in shock. Buford writes the book Hunter S. Thompson style, except not in the "im all hopped up on Scotch and cocaine" style of Thompson. This book made me realize that the post rugby match tomfoolery I was a part of in college is nothing compared to these guys. Next up for me is about the OG of badass geologists, John Welsey Powell. I'm also hoping that sooner rather than later the Riding The Spine boys write a book, but hopefully they will clean their feet first.

Insert Title

Got nothing ramble on about, but I figure I'll post a link dump of sorts. I just wish I had better luck of finding jobs as I did with coming across interest bike stuff.

Save The Singletrack: This is serious up here in the Big Sky, let Rehberg, Tester, and Baucus know what you think.

Joe Papp talks about racing in Latin America: this dude was doped to the gills, and tried to blow the whistle on everyone.

Ritte: American team that is all about Belgium, I can dig it.

Bike Shorts: One of the funnier cartoons I've seen in a while.

Bike Polo is Not a Crime: Plain old bullshit

Those Canadians are Thinkers

Looks like the folks who put on the Intermontane Challenge are setting up a SS specific class. That is great news, I just hope there is enough interest from racers to make it a competitive class. Also hoping that some of the mistakes I heard were made last year get sorted out. I'm sure that temperatures not in the 90s and 100s would help too. Stage racing seems like the next big thing, like what 24 Hour races were in the late 90s and 100 milers a few years back. If I had the money and the strength, I would try to race the one of the solo stage races (Breck or Intermontane) and something with a teammate like BC Bike Race or Cape Epic. Wonder if anyone would be crazy enough to put on a MTB stage race here in Montana?

Race Across The Sky is Coming to Missoula

Last year a documentary was made about the Leadville 100 race, and the resulting beatdown that Lance Armstrong threw down on the field. Back in October, the movie was released in a bunch of cities, but Missoula wasn't on the list (I bitched about this on a previous post). Turns out that Rebecca Rusch (above in the process of winning this years 24 Hours of Moab) also felt that there were a few spots in the Mountain West that needed to show the film. This spring with the help of her sponsors, she is taking the movie to the masses. Save the date March 11, and I guess that the venue will be the Wilma, and plan to watch a sweet film. Big thanks to Rebecca and her sponsors for making this happen.

In The News

Things are kind of boring, so why waste time trying to figure odd/entertaining ways to fill the SSMT void. In between trying to find work, trying to sell socks, trying to figure out what grad school program might be better than the next (even before knowing of either acceptance or rejection), dreaming of SSUSA, and trying to keep thin and trim, I like to pick up news bits here and there.

Looks like NPS is trying to gauge the publics interest and ideas about allowing mountain biking at the New River Gorge. Found this one over at the Dirt Rag, they got the link where you can let the NPS know what you think. I'm all in favor of it, I think the fact that the local mountain bikers would be so giddy to make that work, they will volunteer a ton of time, and follow all the rules for both 1.) setting a foundation for more trail opportunities on NPS lands, and 2.) absolute fear of losing the privelage.

On a sad note, the founder of the Arizona Trail passed away from cancer earlier this week. I never met the guy, but rode and work on the trail he concieved. Few states have the diverse mountain biking landscape like Arizona, and the AZ Trail is over 800 miles of greatness. So, Dale hopefully now you are enjoying the great trails in the sky, thanks for your idea and dedication to something that has brought me fiendship and happiness.

Get ready for the biggest news shocker of the decade, Mark McGwire used sterioids. Thats about as shocking as finding out that the majority of college students illegally drink while underage. Years of following cycling has made me numb to athletes admitting to steroid use, another day another doper, all I do is yawn. The real shocking thing is that Jose Canseco is turning out to be the only honest athlete in this whole steroid era. He should just write another book titled, "Told You So."

More news from the DC front, they picked up a new contributer. Still cant wrap my head around the whole triathalete thing, but it will be nice to get some female input over there. Judi thinks that Wellington will "chick" Lance at Kona in 2011. I would love to see that, especially if it involved her passing Lance on the run while whispering, "pussy" in his ear.

The Question I Ask Myself Everyday

Ponder that one for the day.

Football Woes

I guess the reason some the of the ice in Missoula is starting to melt is because more ice is needed to help Hell freeze over. Tony Romo, Wade Phillips, and the rest of the crew of flunkies referred to as the Dallas Cowboys won a playoff game, so yes Hell as frozen over, and nothing in the universe seems right. I was expecting to wake up this morning and see nothing but darkness, but alas, that is not the case. Just take a look at the thought of Big Juan, and you can see that those Philly fans were ready to jump off the Betsy Ross bridge. Few things in life suck more than fans of Texas teams have a legitimate reason to be happy. I watched the second half in complete awe with an buddy of mine who is an eagles fan, and had the bar been serving pints of oven cleaner, he would have been sucking it down to numb the pain. It's pathetic when all you are doing is rooting for injuries, and thats what we were doing.

Dad and I already had a quick chat about the Jets winning today, and despite the fact that he lives 25 minutes away from the Meadowlands, a town away from the Jets head coach said, "I was hoping they would lose because, I really dont care about the Jets". Yeah I'm in that boat two, the football season ended two weeks ago for me, when the Giants stopped playing with an ounce of heart, and the Jets became the first tier team in the New Jersey area. It Arizona gets trounced today, it will prove the point, that if you lie down the last week of the season, you are fucked for the playoffs. Right now I'll support the Vikings, because they play the Cowboys (who I hate), and someone I know stands to make a substantial amount of money if they win the Super Bowl.

In some bike news, it looks like on of Missoula's finest MTB'ers will be racing next year on Felt Bikes. The Kenda/Tomac/Hayes team of Andy Schultz is now Kenda/Felt, and has a slimmed down roster. Seeing this bummed me out because two fine gals, Holmes and Zephanie, got left off the squad. They are quality riders, and I have no idea what factors went into the roster decisions, so I wont pretend to offer an idea. The team still does have Andy, Amanda, Colin, and recently added Judy Freeman, all of whom are good eggs, so they got my support. If Rebecca Rusch doesnt show up, I'd bet money on Amanda at Leadville, and if she included it in her race schedule, she could probably take a couple of NUE races.