Last Cyclocross Race Of The Season

Today was the last cyclocross race of the season locally. I entered three races: single speed, Cat 4, and masters 60+. They were in that order and back to back. John Abernathy of The Bike Hub and Simon Hartt of Two Wheel Transit had their trailes and tents set up just beyond the finish line. I stopped by and asked if they were doing beer hand ups. John pointed to the two cases, "PBR or Rainer?" I went with PBR. I l opened a can and either John or Simon handed it to me when I stopped by during each lap. I went through one can per race.

I managed to get my five laps in for during the first two races even though I was stopping for beer each time. In the second race I finished my fourth lap in the knick of time so I got to do one more. I knew that wasn't happening in the third race. I was beat and those 40+ and 50+ masters tear the course up. To ease my pain I accepted additional PBR hand ups. One on the long straightaway to the finish line. (I stopped and traded cans with Simon.) And a couple at the run up. There were also peeps at the run up. Those didn't go down as good as the beer.

Once I was done racing, I cleaned up and stationed myself at the run up for the juniors race. I had a wad of one-dollar bills and a couple of fives. The kids have it really tough on the run up and grabbing a dollar bill or two helps make their day. But they're really focused on getting up the hill so you have to get their attention to look for the money. Their reactions are great.

"Money? Where?" Look all around. Spot it. Drop the bike and go grab it.

Fun times.

Single speed fun in race #1.

Early on in race #1 so I'm still all smiles.

 Race #2 with the inestimable John Speare fixin' to pass me.

Race #3. I'm pretty tired. Thing I'll go home now.

(Thanks to Bryan MacDonald for the photos.)

What Lack Of Diversity?

This selfie taken by vice president-elect Pence zipped around the interwebs a few days ago. As you can see, our fair congresswoman, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, is prominently featured up front. And she should be because she's the only female member of the House Republican leadership. 

But a lot of people took issue with this photo. Many people observed there was a lack of diversity in this picture of Republican legislators, staff, etc. And when you look at that sea of white faces you have to admit that finding Waldo would be quite the challenge.

Well, Cathy wasn't about to let those lack-of-diversity charges go unanswered. I found her response in this article.

"There is a lot of diversity when you look at the experiences, the backgrounds," the Washington lawmaker, who has been reelected to her post as Republican conference chairwoman, told Fox News' "Fox and Friends" program.

"We are younger," McMorris Rodgers said Friday. "You look at our leadership team. We're 23 years on average younger than the Democrats. I do believe we need to continue to grow the party, though, and continue to reach out to every corner of this country, every person, so that they know that the policies, the proposals are the ones that are going to prove their lives."

That explanation helped me a lot. I mean, I see mostly white men in the photo and quite a few of them have grey in their hair. I count at least nine women and five of them are right up front for your viewing pleasure. But when you only consider the Republican leadership, which Cathy thinks is the most important point to make here, there's supposedly a huge age difference.

Well who knew that from looking at this photo of Republicans?

And then there's background and experiences. This threw me off at first but then I realized Cathy was speaking in code. Background. It's a clue. Look in the background of the photo. To the far left. See? Diversity!

Experiences. Another clue. Look at the people up front. "Hey, everybody, we're taking a picture on three. Ready? One. Two. Three!" 

Congresswoman Virginia Fox has no idea why Pence is pointing with a stick that has a flat square thing on the end so she is looking for the photographer. See? Diversity!

You just have to know how to look for it.

Checking Out New Roads

Yesterday I headed out with the intent to ride Valley Chapel Road and then following Harvard Road north from the small town of Rockford, connecting with Mica Peak Access Road, summiting the peak, and coming down the north side on Henry.

Valley Chapel Road is a very pleasant ride. It runs alongside Latah Creek for a while and offers some beautiful countryside.

Heading north from Rockford did not go as planned. First, I made a wrong turn onto East Harvard Branch. Then I climbed that road to a dead end. Getting back onto Harvard I found that the part that connects to Micah Peak Access Road is an unmaintained summer road that starts out with a pretty steep climb. I didn't feel like putting out the effort so I wandered my way back home. I think next time I'll come in from the north on Henry. That way I won't have as many miles under my belt by the time I start climbing.

Regardless, all in all it was a very nice 67-mile ride.

Death Cab For Cutie Song About Donald Trump

"Lyrically, ‘Million Dollar Loan’ deals with a particularly tone deaf moment in Donald Trump's ascent to the Republican nomination. While campaigning in New Hampshire last year, he attempted to cast himself as a self-made man by claiming he built his fortune with just a ‘small loan of a million dollars’ from his father. Not only has this statement been proven to be wildly untrue, he was so flippant about it."

Great use of imagery in the video.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers And Donald Trump

Cathy McMorris Rodgers' support for Donald Trump from hank greer on Vimeo.

I wonder how much she would support him if he was more of an asshole than he already is. But then, how much worse can he be?\ Here's a guy who not only thinks it's okay to sexually assault a woman because he's a celebrity, but then brags about it. A positive disruption indeed.

Crosstoberfest 5

John came over from Tacoma for two days of cyclocross racing at Crosstoberfest 5 in Sandpoint. He brought a couple of push up canopies that we planned to sleep under since we could camp at the race site. Thunderstorms and rain moved in Friday night and gave us a good drenching. The yellow canopy leaked at the seams. After enough water torture I got into the truck a little before midnight. I didn't sleep much better there but I was dry. Some time later, I guess John moved things around and used the bikes as weight to hold the canopies in place. The rain continued in the morning. The juniors were the first to race. The poor kids were miserable.

I signed up for single speed, 60+ masters, and men's cat 4 on Saturday. John was in 50+ masters and men's cat 4. The rain finally let up about halfway through the single speed race. The course was slick and muddy, which means it was great although a bit treacherous in a couple of spots. AFter the rain stopped and the clouds slowly moved out the weather warmed and the course got stickier and drier. By the time John and I did the cat 4 race, the last of the day, the course was completely dry except for the descent and run up by the creek.

The course was reversed and slightly rerouted for Sunday. We had one set of barriers instead of two and if you weren't too tired or too weak--like me--you could ride up what I was walking up. I did the single speed followed by the 60+ again. John, who was in the 50+, dropped back and rode with me. It was nice riding together. I felt bad because he was basically just doing warm up laps since I was out of gas from being out on the course so much. But it was cool of him to hang out with me as I plodded along. We crossed the finish line together and wrapped up the weekend.

After viewing the accommodations of everyone else who camped out...

 ...John proudly noted, "Nobody's got what we got." 

(Photo by John Greer)

John can make the best of any situation.

Ready to get muddy.

(Photo by John Greer)

Coming out of the sand pit on the single speed.

(Photo by John Greer)

Grabbing some cash hand ups during the cat 4 race on Saturday afternoon.

(Photo by Chris Hogan)

Just grabbed a dollar from the sign during the Sunday morning single speed race. 

(Photo by John Greer)

Here are a couple of photos from the first day of racing taken by Jacob Green. I don't know him but I thank him very much.

 Still smiling on the single speed.

Not so much after my nth time on the run up.