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so i had a sort of eventful, suprising ride yesterday. and not so much for the riding itself.

first, i had driven to tennesee valley to start, and ran into kiki there. heard some good news that is beyond the scope of this blog. but good news is good news.

second, i was just about to the top of the grinder climb on rt. 1 heading north out of muir beach. it's rather steep, slow going, no shoulder to speak of, but traffic is generally enjoying the view and well behaved. a silver mercedes at the front of a small group of cars passes in an entirely reasonable manner. a preteen sticks his head out the window and yells something. it takes a couple seconds for it to register in my oxygen deprived brain what he yelled. 'fudgepacker'. yes, he called me a fudgepacker. sometimes i forget how other people perceive all the spandex of the red team gear. but still, fudgepacker? i saluted him in return, he still had his bratty head out the window looking back at me, so i know he saw it. the brake lights of the silver mercedes came on briefly, so hopefully he was getting an earful from the driver. i half hoped they would stop at the cherry stand right there, and i'd get a chance to ask him if he wanted to call me that to my face, and perhaps inquire of the driver what kind of kid s/he was raising, but alas, they were gone. the apple doesn't fall far from the tree i imagine.

thankfully everyone i ran into on the trails was nothing but friendly and gracious. the equestrians, even! the rest of the ride was just splendid, thank-you-very-much.

but then, on the way home i stop for gas at the arco on the corner of divis. and fell. it's the cheapest around, and it's always crowded. there's not space for many cars, people get impatient, tempers flair, sometimes it's not worth the savings. regardless, i pull in off divis. the correct way (according to the traffic control arrows), and queued up. i pull in as a car pulls out, and get out to go about my business, when a dude gets out of his huge-ass-suv, and physically puts himself between me and the pump. apparently he had been waiting in his huge-ass-suv to come in from the wrong direction to take the pump, and i had inadvertantly snaked it. just playing by the rules. not really wanting to perpetuate the ridiculousness, i gave him a bit of a hard time, and got back in the car. thankfully, by this time the car at the next pump had finished up, and i only had to wait another 20 seconds or so for it pull away, and backup into that spot, all while mr. huge-ass-suv honked his huge-ass-suv horn at me. then of course, given the tightness of the lot, mr. huge-ass-suv had to do like a 7 point turn just to get into the spot he had been waiting for. and then we pumped our gas at adjacent pumps. awkward! he wasn't there very long. there's no way he filled the tank of his huge-ass-suv in that time because he started pumping after me, and finished before. i wished him a nice day on his way out.

a couple things to take away from this afternoon:

+ sometimes it's hard not to profile people based on the cars they're in when you keep getting reinforcements of existing stereotypes. cases in point: silver-mercedes-brat, and mr. huge-ass-suv. given this, i wonder what the stereotype of grubby-white-dude-in-subaru-with-bike-on-roof is like.

+ don't drive, stick to the trails when possible.

+ try to dwell on the good news when it comes.

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posted by <br> at 04:19 PM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

seems like blogging has reached a kind of critical mass recently. maybe it just seems that way to me because i started this one and have been more interested in the paradigm and in following more friends' blogs. they seem to be creeping into my life in other ways too though. search companies like the one i work for are looking for interesting ways of tapping into the blogosphere. and the local governing body of bike racing has started posting colorful cyclocross race reports in blog form, which has lead to my first ever inclusion in any kind of cycling journalism that i'm aware of.

from CCCX#2:

"The story of the Men's B race just might have been the lean and talented 13 year old Jeremy Blalock (Joselyns). This youngster was charging against the rest of the field and knew exactly where to gauge his efforts having won the junior division the previous race. The 13 year old was attacking the front and really was doing most of the work that enabled a break to go clear in the first 2 laps. Locked on to the impressive Blalock's wheel were Brian Rogers (SyCip Racing), Murray Swanson (Peninsula Velo) and Martin Suro (Bay Bikes). This move went clear and after Blalock blew up as his thin body ran out of the youthful exuberance, it was left to 3 riders to decide the win. This three man battle was very exciting and it came down to the last few turns to make the placings. The reckless and skilled Rogers [!?!?] used his technical abilities to just claim a hard fought win over Swanson and Suro in that order. These finishers were one second apart at the finish line, making it the tightest race of the day for the custom CCCX medals. Jeff Patton (Cotcam Cycles/AMD) missed the winning move and had to setle for a solid 4th on the day. The very talented Andrew Hammond (Specialized) took 5th on the day one second ahead of Blalock. Six seconds back came Jordi Cortes (Missing Link/Bianchi). With Ryan Glades (La Peine), Russell Anderson (Sunshine Bikes), and Joe Ernst (SyCip Racing) filling out the top ten spots in that order. Ryan Schlichting (SF Sort & Spine) just missed the top ten by only 10 seconds and looks poised to make that up in race #3."

it didn't feel reckless. well, maybe just a little. wreckless, for sure. i guess the skill part comes in how reckless(ly fast) can you ride and remain wreckless. because crashing is almost always slower than not crashing. so i'll take it as a complement.

but then, just as i was starting to pinpoint some racing weaknesses and find more direction in my training, the fates have decided that i've been having too much fun, because they have bestowed upon me a sore knee. so i've been resting it for a couple days. riding the bus. hoping to get an easy spin in tomorrow and that it will settle down in time for racing this weekend. we'll see.

<br> - gimpy

posted by <br> at 10:46 AM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

we went to a memorial on saturday for todd wilson. it was a lovely service for a lovely man. todd grew up going to the same church in troy, ny as i did. about a decade older, he was my junior high youth group leader in what seems like a different lifetime.

he moved to san francisco. when i first came to reconnoiter in the late 90s, he was a great host and evangelist of san francisco. he wouldn't let me pay for anything. he took me on a bike ride up the railroad grade on mt. tam because i told him i liked mountain biking. he was a bike commuter, but not really a biker. mt. tam is a little bigger than market street. but no big whoop.

when i decided to move here, i asked him if i might crash at his place for a bit while i looked for an apartment (in 2000, the worst possible time to look for an apartment in san francisco). he and his partner chris welcomed me without hesitation. they were scheduled to be out of town when i arrived. he sent me a house key in the mail with the only request being that i water the plants (i think i overwatered a cactus, sorry!). he was pivitol in making my move to the left coast that much more manageable. when i didn't really know many people here at all, he opened himself and his home up to me. all in his smiling, open, completely non-mental, non-judgemental way. when you're with todd, everything is going to be just fine.

that same year, when i didn't go home for holidays, he invited me to his intimate family xmas eve dinner. good company and a gourmet dinner (thanks to chris) during a decidedly blue period of my life, during the bluest time of the year if you don't have a place to go. for all these things i will be forever indebted to him. of course he would have never seen it that way.

he was a talented dba and passionate independent film maker. i also have him to thank for my imdb entry. he made films that reinforced his ability to be exactly who he was. respectfully, positively, and unapologetically a gay man.

even though we did not remain close as my life in san francisco took root, he was, without a doubt, a person who i was just happy to know was in the world. i think the last time i saw him was last winter sometime. both commuting up market street on bikes. traffic, darkness and the general chaos of the daily commute made it so i did not get to say hello, and i'm not sure he saw me, but his 6'6" frame pedaling his upright commuter bike was unmistakable. maybe i noticed he had a cough. he died of lung cancer at the age of 42 and will be sorely missed.

when i found out from my family that he had fallen ill, i wasn't sure exactly what to do. i knew that, with the life he lived, he was well supported. and given that, i didn't really feel close enough for it to seem natural for me to reach out. i don't know if i was worried about seeming more of a burden on him than a help. maybe that he might not feel comfortable accepting help from me. those are my insecurities on confronting mortality talking and i still feel a little guilty for that, yet as i heard updates, and went to the memorial, i saw just how strong a community he had built around himself, and how it helped him through his final days. so i'll let this be my little contribution.

<br> (ix) - cafe patron

posted by <br> at 11:07 AM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)