Anarchy, again

This is a bummer. Dave Z's house was broken into and completely and utterly burglarized while he was racing in the Tour of California. Sure, most of the stuff can be replaced. But the Olympic Ring? Giro d'Italia medal?!?! That's just mean. Take the Space Legs and plasma screen, but leave the personal mementos.I certainly don't know Dave Z personally, but he seems like an alright guy. Not the typical arrogant cyclist, and a hell of a rider at the same time. And he sports a mustache, which by itself is weird enough, but considering he's a cyclist is even weirder.So if anyone sees any of Dave's stuff, call the cops.

In other news, I'm losing weight. A few bike rides, walking a couple miles to work most days, and not eating frozen junk does wonders. And my body itself is helping, for some reason. Gone is the ravenous appetite daring me to stuff myself so full I can't move. Can't explain it. It's like my stomach knows spring is approaching, and I'll need to be seen in public in a cycling jersey. No more winter layers to hide the gut... Thanks stomach, I appreciate your support.

This just in!

The bicycle-thief professor is "stepping down", as of Friday. Damn right. He claims the bike was not locked, had been there for some time, and was just collecting dust. Odd how the owner discovered it was missing so fast, if it was abandoned. And besides, if a coating of dust is all it takes to declare a piece of property to be in the public domain, why don't we all go down to the local airport and take some dusty cars? Maybe Professor Thief's conscience collected a little dust, and someone stole it...

What is the world coming to?

Just read about a University of South Florida professor - Vice President of Research at the College of Medicine - who loaned a bike to a "nearly homeless" man so he could go to the DMV and replace a lost ID.

Well, golly, that's awful nice of him! Only a few quibbles. Nitpicks, really. Hardly worth mentioning, actually. One, the bike wasn't his to loan. Two, how the heck is someone "nearly homeless"? Three, it was all caught on videotape, with a timestamp of 9pm...what DMV is open at 9pm?!?! Four, they load the bicycle into a minivan. Five, the professor makes about $730,000 a year! Six, they "throw back" another bike, apparently deciding it wasn't worthy of the "nearly homeless" man's backside. Picky, aren't we?

Yep. That's our world, welcome to it. I can only hope that bike-stealing a$$wipe gets fired. He's currently on "leave" (paid, no doubt) while they investigate. The bike was returned...but the really important question is was it returned before or after the video appeared on YouTube? I don't know the answer. If anyone does, please share. Actually, it's not important at all. Even if this guy is telling the total truth (doubtful) and the bike was returned in good faith, it was still wrong. Illegal. Unethical. Evil. Don't mess with someone else's bicycle!

Oh, and Lance Armstrong's time trial bike has been returned. And Jani's road bike. Only two more to find!

Good with the Bad

First off, I must apologize for my lack of pictures. There were several picturesque scenes on today's 2-hour ride, but I couldn't be bothered to stop for photo ops. You see, I've been suffering from cabin fever, what with the piles of snow and frigid temperatures lately.

Happily, today the temperature soared to an absurd 68F! No doubt fueled by global warming, and perhaps an ominous harbinger of things to come this summer. No matter, it was awesome. I headed out to my local car-free (but pedestrian-infested) zone, Creve Coeur Park. Wind? Ferocious. Path wet from melting snow? Yes. Incredibly iced-up waterfall? You bet.

The only bummer was that a large section of path was obstructed by unmelted snow and ice, about 50 meters of it. There were smaller patches I bravely pedaled and slithered my way over, but this would have been inviting disaster. I turned around. So I was unable to do convenient loops, instead riding until I came upon the ice, then turned around and went back.

In retrospect, I should have stopped and taken a picture of me in shorts and jersey, standing in front of the fantastic fully-iced-over waterfall. But, you know, when you're riding outside for the first time in a month...it's hard to stop. At least until my legs cramped up and I struggled back to my car. And yes. Yes I feel stupid by using my car to haul my bike to a pleasant riding destination. I blame the motorists of Chesterfield and surrounding area for making the roads so rage-filled and unsafe that I feel the need, on occasion, to remove myself from the evil motorists' cross-hairs. Plus the ride finished around rush hour, which spells instant death for the unwitting cyclist. Sad, isn't it, that getting home a few minutes sooner is worth taking a life? What a world we live in...

Supposed to be warm all weekend...

Watch out!

Oh, my. What have we here? After posting this picture a few moments ago:I then ran across this picture:
That looks a lot like the same bike. Right down to the wheels. Rolf Vectors. Be careful where you sit, Mr. President. Maybe get some Lysol or something. That can't be sanitary.

Wall Street

I think we need one of these to fly around Wall Street, and make sure those CEO's stay in line. Or maybe have one appear over some random large corporation's headquarters every so often, randomly. Just keeping an eye out! Don't worry, just hanging out for a while here. It doesn't mean anything. Really, trust us. And trust these GIANT FREAKING GUNS! We wouldn't want all that money to go anywhere, now would we?

What's that? The CEO just got voted out by the Board? And he is getting paid $250 million for the hard work he put in ruining the company, and the economy? Whoops! Finger slipped! I probably should not have been targeting the CEO's car and/or private jet for practice. Sorry.
What? You are wondering, "Gee, Brian...isn't this a blog about bikes? Why all the rants about the economy?" It's winter. Not a lot of biking going on. Cut me some slack. I don't get paid $250 million to fail - like...oh I don't know...Hank McKinnell (former Pfizer CEO)? Or...Satan?
"Yes, thank you for pfiring me. Please put a huge pile of cash into my hand, and we'll call it a day. My limo is waiting outside" said McKinnell, maybe*.

*There is more than a little speculation that McKinnell is actually an alien robot, sent to plunder the Earth of its riches.

In other news:

Here's a picture of a bicycle (and a couple of people). Get over it.