Wow! Look at These Pictures of the Sun! Also, Mara Abbott (keeps) Kicking Ass!

Some scientist -- or not even, he's just an amateur astronomer and photographer -- has take some remarkable pictures of the sun. The world is filled with wonder everywhere you look; photos like this help remind me to pause and appreciate...just about everything. Alan Friedman, thank you for sharing your amazing photos of the sun with the internet. (You MUST click on these and appreciate them full-screen.)

And speaking of brilliant stars -- Mara Abbott, Whitman College's own, has received a spectacular honor. She, along with Taylor Phinney, were deemed "Athletes of the Year" by USA Cycling. Mara had inarguably her best season ever, winning the USA National Championships, the Giro Donne (women's Giro), and two stages of the Tour de l'Aude in France. Mara, still in the springtime of her career, is already in the Cycling Hall of Fame. Damn. Mara is a constant inspiration for me, and she makes all of her Whitman cyclist teammates very very proud. Congrats Mara. Keep it up.

NEW AND IMPROVED!

Welcome to GliderBison version 2.0. Take a look around -- it's the same old blog, with some new features. I'm still putting some finishing touches on the updates, so stay tuned!

In Which Krogg Returns to Seattle, Resumes Training, and Suffers a Mild Shock to the System

Wow. Krogg back. Whirlwind off-season come to close. Krogg finished with trip to Las Vegas for Interbike. Krogg finished with meditation course in Idaho. And Krogg finished galavanting around East Coast. Now Krogg back in Seattle. Krogg reunited with trusty Ridley training bike. In fact, Krogg even try his hand at going on training ride. Whoah! Krogg forget how training ride feel after long off season. Good thing races don't start for loooooong time, because Krogg need some runway before he ready for takeoff. Krogg legs already tired -- after two days of training!

For now, Krogg excited about getting back to basics. Living in Seattle. Riding in the rain. Spending time at Cycle U on the trainer, re-working my pedal-stroke. Selling un-needed gear so I can pay bills. These things make Krogg happy -- Krogg ready to get nose back to grindstone.

EXTRA!! EXTRA!! READ ALL ABOUT IT!!!

I'd like to thank my friends at Oregon.CyclingAction for the killer write up about the local hotshots who made the jump to Exergy this year. Big props to Quin Keogh and Ben Chaddock!

Read the article here.

The Staggering Beauty of Rural Inland Maine in October: A Photo Essay

My New York Trip Included Penguins

My trip to New York was unexpectedly amazing. The food! We ate such wondrous food!

Ukrainian food: "try Meat Plate -- it have all the best dumpling -- trust me you like," said through a thick accent.

Indian food: "here is some free dessert on the house -- thank you for bringing such good energy in here -- it's contagious."

Brunch: "would you like another bloody mary with your salmon scramble?" He says. "Why yes, thank you, yes I would," I reply.

Coffee: "just so you know, the Costa Rican costs eight dollars for a twelve ounce cup -- you still want that one?" she says. "Why no I hadn't realized that -- thanks for pointing that out. I suppose I'll have the much more reasonably priced Guatemalan," I reply.

Bagels: "we don't toast our bagels here -- that's no way to treat a bagel."

Soft pretzel: "mustard and napkins are at the end of the cart. Bathroom? Try playground in Central Park across street."

Martinis: "and how sweet would you like that cucumber gin martini -- on a scale of sweetness, with five being the sweetest, and one being the least sweet"

Martinis: "you want another cucumber gin martini? ok sure -- you stickin' with a four on sweetness? Oh, ok -- take that down to a three? Got it, coming right up."

I could spend thirty lifetimes eating my way through New York, and still never try all the amazing food.

Also, my New York trip included penguins. Real live ones. See?

My friend Gus is working on Mr. Popper's Penguins, a movie starring Jim Carrey and eight Gentoo penguins. We got to see the set, watch Jim shoot a scene of the movie, and play with some 'guins in their giant refrigerated habitat.


Also, my New York trip included my own personal Blue Man -- that's right, my friend Ryan is now a Blue Man. After performing for us, he joined us at the bar across the street and went galavanting off into the night with us like a knight on horseback. Here's Ryan (and us):

My New York trip came very close to making me a New Yorker.

New York

New York, you giant slithering medusa you!
You pompous glutton!
You vicious shameless relentless temptress!

From afar, the glint of brilliance you cast through my shades penetrates deep,
You shimmering splendorous wretch.
You gorgeous Narcissus of a thatchwork of steel.

Before I'm even aware of my curiosity,
You effervescent joyride you,
Your suck has got me firm, tendril wrapped 'round all-too-willing wrist.

Oh, how quickly your wings wrap, shading me in your opulence,
But binding me, irreversibly,
To your shiny-toothed grin.

You can't have me New York, not just yet.

I'M BONA FIDE, BITCH!

KROGG HAVE ANNOUNCEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


THIS FRIGGIN' GREAT DAY -- TODAY KROGG SIGN CONTRACT WITH PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM. NEXT YEAR, KROGG RIDE FOR:















DRUM ROLL PLEASE











EXERGY PROFESSIONAL CYCLING TEAM! 

THIS TO BE NEW TEAM FOR 2011, BUT TRUST KROGG -- TEAM WILL HAVE SOME BADASS RIDERS, SOME TOP NOTCH SPONSORS, AND SOME EXCELLENT SUPPORT ALL YEAR. KROGG FEEL EXTREMELY PRIVILEGED TO LAND SPOT ON TEAM, AND EXCITED TO RISE TO CHALLENGE.

Krogg remember roughly one year ago when Adrian Hungarian, good friend of Krogg land his first pro contract. Krogg remember wishing he could feel like that too some day -- WELL NOW KROGG DO!!!!!!!! KROGG REALIZE -- THIS IS ONLY BEGINNING!!! KROGG CAN'T FRIGGIN WAIT!!!!

Krogg obscenely grateful to everyone who help Krogg along the way -- every home stay, every team mate, every sponsor, every friend whose couch Krogg sleep on (sometimes for years at a time -- thanks Alan!), and every family member who hold tongue when Krogg say he plan on racing "one more season," instead of get real job. This truly dream come true, and Krogg SO FLIPPING EXCITED TO CRUSH CAVEMAN BONES NEXT SEASON!

Much more news about Team Exergy to come -- some roster spots still to be determined, some details regarding sponsors still to be determined, and some components of Krogg life still to be determined (where Krogg live? when Krogg move? what Krogg do with new mountains of cash?), but hot shit, buckle up for another year of top notch blogging GliderBison fans -- this shit just got real!

Election Season!

This is just a reminder to all my readers to please vote in this year's mid-term elections. We're extremely lucky in this country to have access to (mostly) fair elections. I hate to see my candidates lose, but when they do, I usually accept the results as valid. Whatever you believe, don't squander the privilege!

Politics don't drift into my blog too often. I try to keep my blog light and entertaining -- and if that's all you're after, you might want to stop reading. However, I do occasionally feel the need to express how I feel, and this is one of those occasions. I promise to be really funny in my next post, ok?

This mid-term election is extremely important -- which way will the country go? Will democrats lose their majorities in the house or senate, thus causing any progress made during the last two years to grind to a halt? Will the Tea Party candidates, many of whom scare the crap out of me with their intolerance and ignorance, win a seat at the table? I friggin' hope not.

While I'm certainly not thrilled with everything the Obama administration has done so far, I'm not ready to give up on it. I tend to agree with Bob Cesca, a blogger whose progressive ideals don't cloud his understanding of what is practical or possible in Washington. Bob feels that, despite it's imperfections, this administration deserves credit for getting anything done at all, considering the current climate of hostility and obstructionism. Yes, at times the administration made compromises, or broke promises issued during the campaign -- but unfortunately that's the nature of governing in our democracy. After working so hard to get him elected, part of me expected Obama to simply wave a magic wand at our nation's problems, and solve them overnight. However, I feel the spirit of the administration remains consistent with the sprit of the man I campaigned for. Steps have been taken in the right direction on so many of the issues I find important. Ending the war. Protecting the environment. Expanding civil rights. Regulating Wall Street. Reforming health insurance, and much more. Could things be better? Of course! Should we continue to remind Obama of where he's failing to live up to his campaign promises? Absolutely! But do I think we'd be better off with an unflinching progressive in the Whitehouse who prefers total gridlock? Certainly not!


Phew.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Cryptic.

Gotta be cryptic,
But take my word for it friends,
Next year sure won't suck...

And Thus, I Emerge

I want to share how my vipassana meditation course went, but I don't even know where to begin. I certainly wouldn't call my experience "good" or "fun" -- it was transformative. We spent our time trying to train our minds. As an athlete, someone who spends a vast amount of his time training his body, I assumed that training my mind would be similar. The factor I utterly failed to take into account was how untrained my mind was before starting the course.

Let me put this in cycling terms, so that I, and perhaps more of my readers can understand:

Imagine a ten-day course where people are asked to pedal their bicycles for eleven hours each day. Now imagine that a wide range of people sign up for this course. Some people, having completed the course before, know exactly what challenges lie ahead, while others don't even know how to ride a bike.  Everyone, regardless of fitness, will find this course challenging; however, someone like myself, who rides his bike constantly, will adjust to this extremely intense environment much easier than someone who hasn't ridden his or her bike since childhood. A good athlete, with a solid understanding of what his body can do, is likely to choose an appropriate pace to pedal for those eleven hours. An out-of-shape person, fresh off years of sitting on the couch eating Arby's, will almost certainly overdo it on the first day, and spend the course floundering.

So it felt with me in this meditation course. My mind was utterly unprepared for the challenge -- prior to this course, I'd never meditated more than ten minutes at a time. My mind, never having exercised like this in it's life, tried to keep up the first day or so, but, let me put this lightly, imploded catastrophically shortly thereafter. I found this experience traumatic, painful, and yet somehow inspiring.

I found that training my mind, especially my sub-conscious mind, is like training a large, powerful, extremely distractible, and extremely hyper labrador retriever named Shredder how to sit. I showed up at canine obedience school thinking I'd get Shredder to sit on the first day, while in reality this goal was totally unattainable -- "Sit Shredder," I'd say, and Shredder would go bounding off into the distance to hump legs, sniff butts, and fight the other dogs. I've taken the first step, but Shredder will need weeks, months, or years of steady, patient, persistent work before he'll be a good dog.



Keep at it Shredder. You'll be sitting in no time.