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Oscar Rides!

Visual Effects Oscar winner John Dykstra is an avid cyclist.  Last we checked with the rangey effects supervisor he was working on the first Spidey movie and bombing his local hills on a Lenz Sport rig, but who knows what new craft inhabits JD's garage these days.  SoCal represent!

Hoopster

Yao Ming, the 7'6" center for the Houston Rockets b-ball squad, is now the proud owner of this rediculous Gunnar 29'er.  That's a lotta midwest steel boyeee.

Boxer Vs. Bikers

Save the trails, again.  NorCal off-road riders are about to loose access to 170 miles of trails because of a poorly worded bill moving through the Senate next week.  Go here or here to learn more, including links to voice your complaints.  More details?  Dirt Rag's got'em.

Stomping Terra

At fifteen years of age, Thompson inspired me - not to write, but to turn pro. 

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

That stuck for me, and so I embarked on a freelancer's path.  Turning pro meant knowing the rules inside and out, the better to break them effectively.  Turning pro meant staying weird and getting paid for it.  Turning pro meant a lifetime of adventure; letting the good times roll - Res Ipsa Loquitur.

Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness, but one that I suspect the inner circle of gonzo was prepared for.  As HST's long-time illustrator and collaborator Ralph Steadman noted, Thompson felt safe in this crazy world because he knew he could take his own exit at any time.  All respect goes out to his wives, children, grandchildren and attorneys.  The written world is now void one of the greatest socio-political critics of all time.

Shocker!

Yawn.  Here's some totally suprising news - Lancelot will be competing  in France this July.  And Generalisimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Live wrong people, it's a shorter path to enlightenment, or a bar fight in South Austin.

The Face

Velonews has graciously published a photo of David Clinger's face.  A top ranked US road racer, Clinger recently showed up at his first team training camp with a full face tattoo.  Didn't go over too well with the management.  This man is not Maori, not Polynesian, not very bright and not proud enough of his tat to keep it - word on the street is he's going through painful treatments to have it removed.  Er, why do it then?  Tat's are for life, not for hype.  And let's hope for Clingon's sake a real Islander doesn't cross his path- this is sacred business to them, not flash body art.

Ice Is Nice

I'm curently deployed in lovely Montreal, Quebec, Peoples Republic of.  Whilst enjoying a particularly rare and balmy winter day by strolling along the river, I spied a group of wheeled denziens ahead of me, and followed thier somewhat obvious path towards what appeared to be the local skating rink.  Upon closer inspection, the true nature of roleur madness was revealed; an ice race.
The formula for this insanity: take a set of perfectly good clinchers, spend the night consuming Sleeman's while poking between 60 and 130 machine screws through the tires, seal with ample quantities of ductape, lower tire pressure to sub-6 bar levels and head to the nearest frozen pond.  The racing went down like this - four riders to a heat for qualifying, four laps per heat.  Semi's would run six laps and the finals would be eight.  A special category was set up for the nutcases who opted to just race rubber - that is to say, studless, normal tires.  The start was delayed several hours by the need to repair tires, consume beer, roll smokes, show off frozen track stands, no-hands skids and the occasional proactice lap.  I stuck around through heat's one and two before my toes started to feel like the ice beneath them and I packed it back to my lodging.  You can probably find results here, if that sort of thing matters to you. 

News Of The Wierd

David Clinger is off his face.  Hey Clingon - tat's are personal, not publicity.
The ASO is considering a stage race cyclocross event in 2006.
Convicted doper and troubled human FVB is currently racing for a betting firm.  Does anyone else think this is wrong?
From reports in CycleSport, Tyler's defense is gonna be based on a fantom crank phonecall to his team manager.  Deep throat yo.
Let's do some math:  gambling + cycling = cheating(dope) x omerta. 
Viva.