rollin for real

Seems like everyone always talks about bringing an indoor velodrome to PDX, but it rarely seems to go much farther than talk. Now Steve Brown and a group of people are pushing the idea farther than just emails and water-cooler talk. He and Jonathan Maus of bikeportland.org have been in and out of Salem a few times, and have come back with some great news care of Senator Jason Atkison and measure 66 (which allows use of lottery funds to build parks and recreation centers).

From BikePortland.org: "Sen. Atkinson revealed to us that he just finished the draft of a new Senate Bill that if passed, would allocate $3.5 million to build two new velodromes in Oregon; one in southern Oregon, and one in the Portland metro area!"

The bill officially enters the system tommorow.

Already the same old tired critiques of any state spending are rearing thier stupid heads in the comments section of the bike portland article. "why should we build a park that I'm never going to use?" "I want a 3 dollar tax break!" "If we build a velodrome, the terrorists will win!" Okay maybe that last one hasn't come out yet, but give it time. For every complaint there are five or six in favor, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Keep your eyes on the Portland Velodrome Project website and the Obra mailing list for news and how you and all your friends and relatives and everyone you know can help.
DT

ticket-nazis and anonymous goons

Rolled out the door schoolward bound on the fixie this morning to an interesting sight. Nearly every car on the street decorated with a lovely yellow parking ticket. At first I though "ha, poor bastards." Surely the aftermath of some wednesday night party-goers who overstayed thier welcome in this parking-nazi haven.

Then I saw the ticket on my truck.

WTF?

Turns out everyone's permit expired at midnight last night, and the nazis were ready.

How stupid could I be, to let something like that happen? Then I checked my permit to find the expiration date. None to be seen. Turns out the only proof that I can find that my permit is expired is the little yellow envelope pinned down by my wiper blade. F*#!ers. I counted 28 cars on one street alone with little middle fingers on thier windshields. At 50 bucks a pop, that's 1,400 bucks easy money. Per street. Sneaky bastards.

Sure, I applied for my new permit today, but that stupid envelope is staying on the windshield. We'll see if it can handle a few days of rain and wind untill I actually get in that creaky truck again.

Remember I was amping about the new blog last week? Not so impressed. I don't mind some humor and a good natured jab every now and then, but that stuff's mean and vindictive. The main writer's not the biggest problem, it's the comments. Too many anonymous goons with too little to do and not enough brain power to do it with. It's like a big "I got cheated out of the cat. 4 crit championships title last year and now I'm gonna take it out on someone else" party.

Too many children, not enough toys. An idle mind is the devils playground. "Kill the body and the head will die."

Looking forward to my wedding. Are you?
DT

sweet

New jersey on the line at Worlds this year: the Omnium. Events include:

Kilo:
3k pursuit:
5km scratch:
200m fly:
15km Points race:

How much would it kick ass if that continued beyond this season and expanded into an Olympic medal? Seems like it'd be good for spectators; people get a little more connection with riders, yet races are still short enough to keep up with short attention spans... If USA cycling does not pay attention and make this a national championship event, it will be the worst move they could possibly make. Keep the standing 250 a seperate event and add the omnium, in a couple years you'll have some of the strongest sprinters and endurance guys in the world. Seems that in a country chock full of crit sprinters and trackies that this would be our favorite event.

On the road side of things, apparently Slipstream will test its riders' blood and urine 50 times a year. This will carry a price tag of $20,000 per rider or $400,000 per year... I say kick ass. Good positive step in the public opinion battle that road racing continues to slog through.

New blog on the block: Race Oregon. I'm all about some good-nature shit-talking, so I'm psyched to see how that goes throughout the season. Sure didn't take long to end up the topic of discussion though, this is from a 2007 preview:
"Rubicon
How could I forget Rubicon!? Is Norrene going to load up her basement with Kiwis again? The boys in Orange will be around to share New Zealand’s favorite pastime (drinking) and the national dance (the tuck and roll), in a mutually beneficial cultural exchange. Hide your sisters. Word is she's also looking to load up the team with Cat. 1/2s under 20 years of age or something like that.
2 words for the guys in orange this year: Dan Harm."

Yeah we're amped for Dan's season in orange. I'm just happy to have someone else out at the track. If all goes well we should have a pretty good goup in both the sprints and endurance stuff.

As for the kiwi national dance... well.. yeah. we're working on that. Tuckerman's mountain bike gets training wheels this year.
DT

(almost) Back To Racin'

Some pie race goes down a mere 4 days from now, I better start riding... Actually, I haven't done that race for something like 4 or 5 years and I don't plan on starting this year. Too damn early. The pie race proves a very valid point however, and that point is the 2007 racing season. You can barely see it in the distance, bearing down on us all like a grotesque freight train loaded with acid and chocolates. Come mid-march I'll stand by the tracks and run along at full tilt, pick a car and hop on. Hopefully it's the chocolate one.

First Crit of the year happens pretty early down in U-Jean. If it's the same boring, flat course as always I'm in. This time of the year is tailor made for courses you can sleep through. Just fast enough to hurt, just technical enough to make me corner slightly harder than I do on the bike path. Leave the insane dive-bomber "I can beat the lead motor" courses for summer nights.

We all know that track racing is the best thing you can do with your clothes on, so that's all I'm looking forward to at this point. That and beating Ping Pong at Tabor. Think I'm gonna train for the Fat-Off at Tabor this year. Lord knows the Pong certainly has.

The other thing I need to work on this year is a cyclocross style supporter's club. I need a bunch of old drunk dudes in matching jackets to show up every week at the track to wave pirate flags, hurl insults at other riders and sing songs about how totally awesome I am. I'll even train them to throw the flags like javelins for the AVC this year so I can bring down some sweet moolah when I'm the only one that finishes all of my sprint rounds...
Or maybe I'll just hire this guy. He can just wander around the infield and glare at everyone.

DT

beaches are ill

New best thing: mid-January Oregon coast camping trip. Brave the elements. Face the fears. Nevermind your frozen digits, these smores taste great.

bummer...

I suppose this clears a few thing up though.

"The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced on Friday that track cyclist Stephen Alfred of Capitola, Calif., has been given an eight-year suspension after testing positive for exogenous testosterone and for 'pregnancy hormone' human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG).

Alfred, 39, returned a positive result for exogenous testosterone or its precursors and for an elevated testosterone to epitestosterone (T/E) ratio in an out-of-competition test conducted on May 28, 2006. He also tested positive for hCG on June 10, 2006, at the Pan American Cycling Championships in Brazil. The two positives are considered one doping offense according to the World Anti-Doping Code."
-cyclingnews.com

DT