Rare December Post

First, thanks to Geoff and Bruce for being the kind of bike shop owners who contribute not only to the biking community, but also to the larger community. Also, congratulations to getting an aging vituperative crank like Doug Clark to say or do anything positive. His column used to be filled with stories about the little guy taking on the world, but he has gotten increasingly angry and lazy as the years have gone by. He is just a couple of birthdays away from starting every column with "Hey, you kids, get offa my LAWN!" But I digress. He is doing a good thing by supporting the efforts of Two Wheel Transit donating to the Christmas Fund. Kuddos to all involved.

Here is the story: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/dec/05/good-tidings-on-all-fronts-and-rears/

Next, speaking of doing good, but in this case, doing good for the world at large. Dr. Sam Joseph, a man to be feared any time you combine a bike and an incline, is literally healing hearts in Rwanda with a group of medical folks. It is an enormous and expensive undertaking that impacts lives in a way that most of us never have a chance to do. Here is their not-often-updated blog: http://healingheartsnorthwest.blogspot.com/. Tonight at 6 pm at the Steam Plant Grill, Dr. Joseph will be showing a few slides, making comments about how slow I go uphill on a bike and raising some money for this worthy effort. Oh, also, some free beer. Come on down and help make a real and significant difference in some worthy lives.

Lastly, biking.

Well, thinking about biking at least. There are adverse conditions and then there are impossible conditions. At least for mortals. Maybe after this week's warm up we can go to wet, yucky, dirty slush instead of hard pack killer ice. In the meantime, the skiing was killer this weekend.