First Rule of Nate Club: Don't Talk About Nate Club

Nate loves his bike. Nate loves to ride. Nate's bike is about a half-inch too big for him. Nate goes down hills on the Boise Greenbelt. Nate goes downhill under bridges. Idiots stand under bridges in the bike lane. Nate hits idiots who stand under bridges in the bike lane. Nate's Dad wants to cold-cock the idiots who stand in bike lanes acting as targets for five year-olds who are riding down hills under bridges on Greenbelts.

Contrary to what this picture shows, Nate is not trying to become a cage fighter or even taking Rex Kwon-do classes. I just wish Nate were my size, because the idiot who was standing in the bike lane in the dusk under the bridge would've taken the worst of it.

Keep on riding, Nate. We'll get him next time!

Minnesota Vikings are Worthless

Well, not only have my beloved Vikings started what was supposed to be a "Super Bowl" caliber season 0-2, but according to Forbes, the team is the most worthless in the NFL--even worth less than the crappy Raiders.

The silver lining, though, is that the owners, the Wilf Brothers, have actually made a $239 million USD return on their investment in the three years since they bought the franchise from Red McCombs. Of course, that silver lining only benefits the Wilf Brothers. I'm not a Wilf.

Darn it.

Children's Bookstore

My neighbor is now online! May I suggest that you take a moment and link to ChildrensBookstore.com. It's a site dedicated to kids' books, helping kids learn to read, sharing tips and ideas and looks to be pretty easy to navigate. It's been a collaborative effort for a couple of my neighbors, actually. One is the creative genius behind the content, and the other has put together all the nerdy back-end applications stuff. If you like either and would like to get in touch with them for your project, drop me a note.

In the mean time, read to your kids!

Minnesota Awesomeness

Okay, if you've never been to the Minnesota State Fair, too bad for you. It is greasy goodness, deep-fried and on a stick. Arteries cringe at the sound of the fair approaching. You pay $11 to get in the gate and have the pleasure of shedding years off your life in delicious fashion. Behold, the list of "on-a-stick" foods, courtesy of Fairbourne's Food Finder. Nummy.

We were able to sample the following foods:
-- Deep-fried cheese curds: a Fair staple for decades, these are ridiculously good;
-- Sweet Martha's chocolate chip cookies: ten cashiers wide and a line of 10-15 at each cashier purchasing a $14 bucket o' cookies means Sweet Martha is taking baths in twenties;
-- Key Lime pie on a stick: seen this in the past, this was the first year we went for it. Good, but would be better with non-dark chocolate dip;
-- Cheesecake on a stick: get. get. get. and get another one.
-- Zeppoles: Italian something-or-other dough bathed in powdered sugar: a winner
-- Dairy building "malt": nothing more than soft-server ice cream smothered in blackberries--it was good, but wasn't a malt;

In the past I've sampled the Lutheran sundae, which was a pile of mashed potatoes with a big meatloafy meatball and gravy on top, which is quite tasty, an egg roll on a stick and many other things.

Make plans to come next August. Totally worth the trip. And I'm totally biased about it, too. I own it.

While You're Sleeping...

There's a great article in the WSJ regarding what's going on in Georgia, as the Russian Army allegedly is withdrawing. Too many feet on the street say that this is simply not happening. The media continues to ignore this in America, as they are overwhelmed by his Obamaness and the anointing ceremony of the supreme Marxist commandante in Denver.

About thirteen years ago, I met a higher-ranking government official from Georgia on a train in Spain. He had married a woman from Barcelona and was on his way to pick her up after she'd spent time with family there and then head back to Georgia. Georgia was a new democracy back then, in its infancy, but after having a wonderful chat with this man, I could tell something burned in his chest--the flame of desire for freedom. I've since read in other places that the Georgians "get it" when it comes to fighting for freedom. Soldiers I know who've deployed to Iraq and have fought alongside and trained the Georgians have told me that they "get it" more than anyone else--sometimes more than the Americans. Watch the reception that President Bush got in Tbilisi in 2005 and you'll see a nation of people that "gets it." This was the infamous "watch stealing" episode (that wasn't), but the Georgians welcomed this president, who talked the talk and walked the walk about defending nascent freedom, with arms wide open.

To have the Russians move in on Georgia, attempting to quash a people who "get it" and take from them the freedom they had won not even fifteen years prior, is evidence of a troubling dichotomy in the Russian sphere. In Russia, you have a nation who was once proud, immensely powerful, feared and had since become a shell of its former self. In Georgia (and the Ukraine, and other former "SSRs") you have a sovereign nation who, now that it has drank deep from the fountain of freedom, relishes its opportunity and even stands boldly against those who would attempt to deprive others of a chance at it. To ignore the Russian aggression against Georgia is to say the men and women dying in Iraq and Afghanistan promoting democracy is a waste--that it somehow is not worth it.

Let's take a lesson from the Georgians. Let's "get it" and stand up to a Russia driven by unfulfilled dreams of empire, attempting to forcefully control something that cannot be controlled: the Georgian desire--the human desire--for freedom.

MS Ride a Success (Day Two)

Day two began with the prospect of being a bit shorter (50 instead of 60 miles) a bit flatter (less climbing to start the day, less elevation gain overall) and a different kind of scenic.

Everything went as planned except that I totally bonked about ten miles from the finish. About the half-way point, I hooked up with a group of riders from Mountain Orthopedic (some of whom I'd met at the start) and we got in a sweet paceline as we put about 15 miles on in about 45 minutes. I pulled and then let Henry (Enrique) and Alex (Sr.) do the pulling too. Both of these men are Basque (surprise that I gravitated to them) and they were both in their 60s making me look like I had a wooden leg and a plastic lung. They rode like machines. I really need to train harder. That's Henry in the front of the picture below and Alex right behind him. I'm taking the picture over my shoulder while pulling. The ladies in back are daughters and daughters-in-law.


I made it back into McCall solo--as I got dropped when I hit the wall. No worries, though, as I got to the massage table while there was no line. $10 for a thirty-minute post-race was $10 well spent. I think the spa (located in our home town) has a new client. I'll probably send Carrie first. She earned it.

Total stats on the ride:
Day one:
Distance: 59.32 miles
Time: 4:32:23
Avg. speed: 13.1 mph
Max speed: 35.8 mph
Calories burned: 5020
Avg. cadence: 68 rpm

Day two:
Distance: 49.20
Time: 3:19:09
Avg. speed: 15.2 mph
Max. speed: 37.6 mph
Calories burned: 3284
Avg. cadence: 69 rpm

I used my heart-rate monitor on the Garmin 305 Carrie bought for me for the first time on this ride. It says my average heart rate was 126 bpm and my max was 143 bpm. I have no idea what that means, but I assume that the first number is a bit high and the fact I didn't die may be a good thing. If anyone knows what that is, let me know--or I'll look it up myself. Everytime I go to the doctor, they tell me my blood pressure is normal and my heart rate is too. So I'm putting it out there for your closet MDs to tell me if I should be concerned.

Thanks to all my sponsors for their wonderful (and GENEROUS) support on this ride. I know I ask you folks every year to do what you can, and you continually amaze me and my family with your generosity and true devotion to this cause. I invite you to come ride/visit/watch next year. McCall is a beautiful location and would be a great place for a vacation.

Thanks again--and lots of love to each of you!

MS Ride a Success (Day One)

I finished. The MS Ride up in McCall this year was terrific. It was tough. It was challenging. It was well-supported. I love the ride and I love the opportunity to participate in such a fantastic cause. I've got a few pictures from it--although only a pair of them with me, since I didn't really know anyone in the ride (that changed after I rode...I'm a talker), but enjoy!


On day one, I climbed the first thirty miles--seriously--it was an "out-and-back" ride of mostly climbing the first thirty miles--and left the lunch stop ready to head down the mountain. About a mile or two into it, I noticed something on my front tire that looked like tar or goo. I stopped and realized that I had a "herniated tire" and that unless I could find a tire (not a tube), my ride would be over, and I would miss the downhill I had earned. See the picture below for a look at what a herniated tire looks like (note the blisters):



So I hopped into the SAG wagon that would take me to the twenty-mile rest stop and waited. He was also the Sweep car, so we had to wait for the last riders to go--he couldn't use his radio because he wasn't "HAM-certified" or something. Yikes. On our way down the mountain, we came across two brothers (who I'd seen a few times already) who were having their fair share of mechanical problems. One of them had just gotten his third flat of the morning (that was about one per hour). His brother Jason had already flatted once and also broken a cleat on his shoe. Good times. I suggested the issue wasn't "tubular" but instead "rimular" or "spokular" and that he ought to check that out. To make a long story short, we swapped wheels, rims and all, so I could ride down the hill (he was done--plus the SAG wagon had beer and he was thirsty). Here's a nice picture of the "two wrongs make a bike" pair of wheels:


That night, I joined my family, was super grumpy and sore, and actually got a reasonable amount of sleep. Special thanks to my wonderful wife for putting up with me and allowing me to do this without too much "leaving the kids alone" guilt. I love this cause and I love this ride. Mostly because I love my Mom.