More Fresno Memories...

Growing up in Fresno had its good moments. Now that I'm older and (presumably) wiser I can see that it wasn't as bad as I thought it was. I guess I was just your typically whiny (bored) teen who thought he was having a "Footloose" moment at times. You know the type.

I was out riding yesterday and today (42 & 32 miles) and had some great memories float by.

I remember...

I know alot of folks buy into the whole "global warming" scare, but it has always been hotter than Hell in Fresno. You have to be careful about touching the handle on your car door, sitting on your vinyl seats in shorts, and if your an idiot, walking barefoot on asphalt. The plus side was my mom dropping me and a couple of my brothers and sisters off to swim at Airways. I think it cost 50 cents and you could swim all day. The tallest diving board seemed like it was 50 feet in the air. I bet it was 10 feet.

I remember the Chicken Pie Shop. A restaurant that sells chicken pies has to be great, right? It was.

Zack's. I can never smell a clove cigarette and not thinks of Zack's dance club.

Bowling at Fresno State. We used to make up names for the score sheet, I'd usually pick a name like Fausto Coppi. My brother would pick something subtly perverse. We thought it was funny to have it glowing on the overhead!

We used to play "pickle" till we were exhausted!

My grandmothers walkway used to be lined with jars of sun tea in the summer! Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a Mason jar full of ice cold sun tea in the summer! She also made top notch potato salad as well! It had little chunks of pickle in it.

My dad was a mechanic for a time and once brought home a "crap load" of donuts he salvaged off of a donut truck that wrecked. If I remember right my mom froze alot of them so they wouldn't go to waste. I think we had the metal sheets they were on for quite some time as well.

I once had a blue and white "SWATCH". That was one trendy timepiece!

We used to eat breakfast at Roding Park with my Dad's family. They'd cook pancakes, bacon, etc. It was fun.

Grandma Smart always had a frosted Christmas tree! And made some wicked rum balls we used to sneak away with!

Ottmar Thomas' Toyota of Visalia commercials! What an accent that mook had!

Pizza and Pipes! It's impossible to eat cheap pizza whilst listening to an obnoxious pipe organ and not have fun! I think it burned down.

I used to get most of my school clothes from the J.C. Penny catalog and GEMCO. Those were the days of terry cloth shirts, O.P. shirts and shorts (nutters), and shoes (fake Vans) sure to keep an orthopedic doctor gainfully employed.

It doesn't seem that long ago. Man does time fly!

Pot O' Gold!

The Eighties were an incredible time for Irish cycling! It's not like the peleton's cup was running over with Irishmen, I can only remember four. Two of them were amongst my absolute favorites, Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche. Martin Early didn't get much press but was a very capable rider for Fagor (sweet kits) and PDM. Paul Kimmage toiled for RMO and later penned the very compelling "Rough Ride".

My first look at Kelly was the 1986 Paris- Roubaix. The combo of Phil Liggett's commentary and John Tesh's techno music blew me away. That was the most heroic sporting event I'd ever watched at that point in my life! This race was long, cold, wet and muddy. Over cobblestones? You've got to be joking! These are HARD men!! I wanted a KAS jersey something fierce!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_onBx2ZSHA

http://cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=49

Sean Kelly was a flat out freak on a bicycle! He also won the Vuelta d' Espana!

Stephen Roche was a weapon of mass destruction in 1987! He won the Giro D' Italia, Tour de France, and World Championship; only Eddy Merckx had accomplished that before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrvsSOs920

"It's only a mountain..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8woHATqz8E

http://www.cyclinghalloffame.com/riders/rider_bio.asp?rider_id=114

I still have my Carrera jersey (what a team that was!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Rain, Rain, Drizzle, Drizzle

What a sucky weekend! Sometimes I think the weather has it in for me. The weeks I'm on the road it's 70 degrees and sunny. Lately, the weeks (or weekends) I'm working at home its too crappy to venture out. So I spin on my trainer, which bores me to no end. On the plus side I have been hitting the Y and getting some really good upper body/ core sessions in.

I've been using Hammer Nutrition's HEED drink mix the last few weeks and can't say enough positive things about it! I've used Hammer Gel for about a year or so and love it as well. They have an excellent website with some very interesting articles about their sports supplements; you can check it out at http://www.hammernutrition.com/.

I was up in the DC area this week and had Korean food for the first time. It was teriffic! In fact, I may go on a Korean food tangent. The dish I had is called Bibim Bap. It's a salad of sorts with rice, and several small bowls of a variety of marinated vegetables. You mix them all together and add some of the spicy sauce that came with it. I love variety in my diet and this is something I plan on enjoying again!

If you ever find yourself in Alexandria, VA you should check out Hee Been on Little River Turnpike (http://www.heebeen.com/), you won't be disappointed.

Delayed at JFK (again)

ARRRRRG!

At least I can people watch. A woman (I think) just slithered past that reminded me of Ronnie James Dio! For those of you who haven't experienced RJD (or you just want to reminisce), you can "live it up" on youtube-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_FgL5l1og

Picture him sporting a pair of trendy fur lined suede boots and you'll have an idea of what just strutted past me. Good luck getting a solid nights sleep!

Now I was never a Dio fan mind you; I just remember all the stoners wearing his concert t-shirts when I was in high school. I've always liked a lot of what is now termed "classic rock", but drew the line when it came to the more creepy stuff like Dio, Ozzy, Kiss, etc. I had AC/DC's "Back in Black" 8 track when I was in the 7th grade, I listened to it quite a bit until someone explained what some of the lyrics meant and I chucked it. Even now, I'll listen to a song and all of the sudden I'll understand what their singing about. Usually I'm disappointed and embarrassed at how naive I can be.

Tour of California Rolls Through the Valley

I had an "office week" last week and was able to watch most of the ToC on Versus. It was great to see a couple of stages roll through the San Juaquin Valley on some of the same roads I used to train on! While we had some very good racing in the Fresno area back in the 80's, who would've ever guessed that a pro peleton as strong as that would roll through the Valley? I was amazed at the size of the crowds along the route of every stage!

Mark Cavendish stormed to victory in Clovis, just nipping Tom Boonen at the line!

He actually sat up a hair to early and was lucky that Boonen didn't snag that win! I Like Cavendish quite a bit. He's young and although some would say he's cocky, I think he exudes the confidence of someone who's racked up a pile of impressive wins. This kid is only going to get better!

The next day the ToC started in my wife's hometown of Visalia. I consider Visalia my adopted hometown and spent a lot of time riding in the foothills around Visalia and nearby Exeter. Visalia has hosted a teriffic road race and criterium every year since the mid 80's.

It was cool to watch the peleton line up at the corner of Church St. and Acequia!













Visalia has always turned out great crowds for the crit every year but they really outdid themselves at the ToC!

Overall the coverage and racing was pretty good. I'll admit my patience was tested with the Lance lovefest that was inflicted on me every day by Phil, Paul, and their sidekick who seems to ramble on. I love Phil Liggett. He's been the voice of pro cycling forever. However, when he starts yammering on about Armstrong I feel the bile start to churn in my stomach. On top of that you had the likes of Landis, Basso, Hamilton, and the rest of Rock Racing soiling the ranks of the peleton. It was a dopers reunion of sorts.

Another thing that needs to be addressed is the idiots running next to the riders on the climbs. Good grief! This is a safety issue and if people don't have the sense to stay out of the way it's going to cost someone their season. There were dozens of fat, wheezing losers sprinting along in asinine outfits within inches of putting a rider on the deck. I wouldn't be surprised if a rider dismounted and beat someone senseless!

I did manage to get in about 120 miles last week. The weather has been pretty chilly, but I picked up a Pearl Izumi Insulator jacket and some new Pearl booties a couple of months ago when I was working in New Hampshire (at a Pearl Izumi store no less). They work great! I've been trying some new embrocation by "Sports Balm" that I bought here at 3 Sports as well. It's very warm, but not overwhelming, with a great scent. Perfect on a cold windy day!

Load O' Feces

I have a fantasy that is surely destined to remain a fantasy. I'd love to see an athlete clearly admit to knowingly taking "performance enhancing drugs" and admit it was cheating. He should express sincere remorse for damaging the credibilty of his chosen profession and make every effort to cooperate in the effort to clean up his sport. He should then retire and find something else to do with his life.

Watching Alex Rodriguez's lame attempt to "apologize" and field questions about his involvement with PED's was utterly predictable. He has now joined the ranks of other tainted atheletes who've made complete fools of themselves in an effort to salvage something they don't possess. A good reputation. This is no surprise to me, I've been saying this about him for years. Look at him! He's huge! In fact, I don't buy his PED time frame at all. He looks bigger now than when he was on the Rangers. Let's not forget this is the same guy who left the Mariners for the Rangers, and not for the money (Haaaa! Haaaa!). And what's with the current trend to "plead young and stupid" in an effort to excuse cheating, drug use, sexual promiscuity, fathering illegitimate children, etc? Is 24 or 25 years old the new 16 0r 17? I don't think so! It's merely an effort to downplay serious moral flaws!

My motto for a number of years has been "If you have low expectations, you're never dissapointed".

Bud Selig and the owners are another story. I don't believe for a minute they didn't know what was going on. They didn't notice that the players looked more WWF than MLB? An eyebrow didn't raise as longstanding MLB records were shattered? They allowed it to continue because the turnstiles were spinning like propellers. Ultimately they don't give a crap about the players or the integrity of sport, it's all about profits.

Mowtown is Rundown!

I've been here working for several days and I've got to say, Detroit is a dump! I've been here four times over the last year and it's always the same. Filthy hotels and restaurants, depressing scenery, and roads that remind me of carpet bombed runways! On top of that the wind has been blowing about 30-40 mph all week. That's great in one sense; it cleans the streets by blowing all the trash who knows where.

Good job Detroit!

On a happier note, the weather in Richmond has been pretty decent for putting in some miles on the bike. Last weekend I was able to get in several 40 mile rides! Over the Winter I've been working pretty hard on my upper body conditioning and I can already tell a huge difference from where I was at this point last year.

I became interested in Catholicism last Fall and started attending the Latin Mass at "Our Lady of Fatima" in November. I've had some good Catholic friends for a number of years, but never really discussed religion with them. I always assumed (big mistake) that most of the bad things I've heard about Catholicism over the years were true and hence, had zero interest. However, early last Fall I read an excellent book by Tom Woods; "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization" and it perked my curiosity. I had many questions for my friends and they were answered well enough that I decided to investigate Catholicism seriously. Several months and countless hours of study later, I've got to say I've fallen in love with the theology and the Mass. I'll certainly post more about this exciting change in my life in a future post!