Meditate on This!

For the next ten days, I'm going to be taking a course in Vipassana meditation outside Sun Valley, Idaho. I'm slightly nervous about what I'm getting myself into -- ten days of not talking and sitting still sounds pretty challenging. To date, I think the longest I've remained both silent and still was for roughly two hours and forty minutes. I was sleeping at the time, and this happened over ten years ago, so "challenging" might be an understatement. Learn more about what I'm doing here. Needless to say, blogging is not allowed during meditation courses, so as much as I'd love to give you detailed, firsthand accounts of the changes taking place in my psyche, I can not do so. I will, however let you know how it went once I get back. Good night, and good luck.
-S

Game Day Ambiance

Boise State

It's good to be in Boise. Interbike is all over and done with, and soon I'll share some photos of the goodies I spied. But for now, it's back to Boise, and there is no better time to be in Boise than on game-day for the Boise State Broncos. Not only that, it's a BIG game! Boise State (ranked 3rd in the county) will take on Oregon State (ranked 24th), and the eye of the nation is watching. ESPN College Gameday is here to capture the action, which basically means that if you live within earshot of Bronco stadium, you were treated to a 6AM wake-up call by the massive pep-rally -- even though the game doesn't start for another 12 hours. I couldn't believe my ears: the fans were yelling so loud for this morning's rally, I'm worried that nobody will have any voice left over to scream at the actual game.

I'm not a huge football fan, but it's hard not to get swept up in this kind of enthusiasm.
GO BOISE STATE.

p.s. if you lose, the fans might well riot.

Vegas

Everything they say about Vegas is True.

OK Go Makes Dog Based Art

I love OK Go's Music videos. They are some of the most creative, and difficult to produce music videos ever! Anyone who has ever tried to teach a dog a trick should appreciate the colossal difficulty of trying to shoot this video in one take.

Interbiiiike!

Interbike, you get ready. Krogg COMING. Krogg plan to make this best trip to Vegas ever. After all, Vegas is perfect place for caveman: all you can eat buffets, lots of bright flashy lights (caveman love flashy lights!), and zillions of ways to spend money. Wait. That last one not right -- Krogg hate spend money.


Anyway.


Krogg have mixed agenda. Here some things Krogg hope to do while at Interbike: 


1: Thank Sponsors
Krogg have so many sponsors to thank! Sponsors like Blue Bikes and Cole Wheels make Krogg's season possible. Krogg excited for opportunity to thank sponsors in person. Krogg also glad that all sponsors gather in one spot to make thanking easy. 


2: Work Booth for Cole
Krogg also probably spend time working at Cole wheels booth. Krogg help explain why Cole wheels best wheels on planet! Krogg say things like: "want to go fast? try wheel. Want to go REALLY fast? Try COLE wheel!!" Krogg all too happy to spend time at Cole booth -- after all, Cole wheels literally carried Krogg to victory!


3: Schmooze 
If there one thing Krogg good at, it schmoozing. Krogg plan on shaking hands 'til grip-strength start to fail. Krogg also hope to sweet talk way onto pro team. Yes sir, Krogg have foolproof plan: Krogg put ruffies in the martini of every team director at Interbike. When directors wake up next morning, Krogg already signed contract! By end of weekend, Krogg hope to be racing on at least 12 different pro teams, and making 12 million euros. What could go wrong?! Then Krogg see the movie The Hangover, and Krogg realize that, indeed, great deal can go wrong when you feed people ruffies in Vegas. 

Then Krogg watch other movie called Inception. This give Krogg even BETTER idea! What if Krogg hack into the dreams of team directors, have very complicated series of shootouts, snowmobile chases, and zero-gravity fist fights, then spend whole lifetime growing old in dreamland -- all so Krogg can plant tiny shard of a shred of a seed of an idea in team directors minds: sign Krogg for 2011. Krogg pretty sure this plan will work....

...but then Krogg realize that whole idea came to Krogg in one giant dream! Technology for hacking into dreams not even exist yet. Besides, odds are, team directors have pretty spooky dreams.  So Krogg have to do things old fashioned way: with smiles, handshakes, and resumes. Good luck Krogg. You'll need it! 

Ugh....Doping

This stuff just makes me sad:

"Chodroff admits to EPO purchase and use"


So it appears this guy took EPO as a cat 3! How depressing is that? Apparently there's a lot more bad news where that came from -- there are at least another 15-25 cyclists, pros, amateurs, and masters alike, lined up to get busted. 


John basically landed a pro career because he could time trial like an animal. Almost all of his results are from time trials or from stage races where the GC was determined by the TT. It's hard for me not to feel wronged in this situation: I beat that guy in the 2008 Valley of the Sun Stage Race TT, and later that year, he went on to win TT nationals and get a spot on OUCH Maxxis. I'm not saying that contract was mine; I'm just saying it probably shouldn't have been his. 


I'm mad, but I don't know who I'm mad at. Am I mad at Chodroff? Am I mad at Joe Papp (the former pro cyclist and convicted doper who sold him the drugs)? Am I mad at the racers who are secretly doping right now? Am I mad at the whole sport? At humanity in general? 


It hurts to realize that there is indeed a very effective shortcut to the top (or near the top), and that there are plenty of people willing to take that shortcut. Sure, a few of those people get caught, and on the whole, I feel the culture in the sport is improving, but that doesn't take away the indignity of losing to those guys -- people remember who won a race far better than who retroactively inherited a result. 


Maybe, and this possibility scares me the most, I'm mad at myself for not stooping to that low. I badly want to be a pro cyclist. I would love to race in the tours of Korea, Thailand and Qinghai Lakes (in China) like John Chodroff did this year. But I'm not willing to cheat to get there! I'm sure John regrets his actions right now, but years from now, after the storm of outrage he's probably weathering has passed, how will he feel? Will his decision to cheat sour all those amazing memories he gathered trotting the globe as a professional athlete? Will it sour them so bad he'd trade them all in for a clean conscience? 


I fucking hope so -- otherwise those of us who race clean look like fools, don't we?