Alice Cooper Won't Shut Up!

Remember that scene in Richard Linklater's 1993 masterpiece Dazed and Confused when the school year finally ends in anonymous town Texas in 1976? You know, the final bell rings, kids throw their books at their teachers, paper suddenly blasts off into the air as if struck by two sticks of dynamite, the school doors stay ajar as moppy-haired kids wearing polo shirts and bell bottoms leap and scream in delight at the potential of freedom provided by three months off for summer break. Remember that? Well, that's not at all what it's actually like.

February Lynskey Helix OS Special at The Bike Center

The top of the line Helix OS racing frameset made by titanium specialist Lynskey (and the frame of choice of yours truly) is on sale this month at Middlebury, Vermont's, The Bike Center!  Normally $4195 gets you just the OS frame in bare satin finish, but with this special pricing you get a hand-brushed frame, and Enve (formerly Edge) 2.0 fork, and a 100 ZS 44mm headset.  Click here for details

Still Kickin'

25 degrees here, a couple of fluffy inches there, what color wax do I use on my skate skis today?  All fitting observations for a motivated cyclist in training, right?  Eh, no.  Okay.  My first race is a good four months away and honestly, I'm thinking more about report cards due in late January and how I'm going to explain the dog vomit spewed into my car's rear seat latch mechanism by my otherwise healthy, happy and beautiful dog, Ellie.  Winter has been in and out so far this year, like many recent years.  And, like many recent years, it has me regretting not buying a Prius one day and opting for the V6 whatever the next.  Okay, no, I'm not that shortsighted.  It is almost debilitatingly frustrating when you ski in 22" of snow one day and then three days later it's rainy and 75% gone.  Add to that that you have to drive back from vacation to go be a teacher again and, arrgh, I swear I had thoughts of driving straight into one of many endless groves of spruce trees and ending it all.  But I digress....

'Tis the Season...

...of a skier/cyclist's discontent.  I'm staring out the nose-imprinted windows of my classroom at a partly cloudy sky and a very mild-looking block of warmth.  It's nearly 70 outside and it's the end of October in the mountains of Vermont.  Just three days ago there was enough frost on the roads to make biking down the gaps a deadly endeavor.  It's these flip-flop weather patterns that drive me nuts this time of year, almost more so than a January thaw or a July cold snap.  One moment the weather taunts my yearning to wear my ski boots around the house in an effort to stave off early season shin bang.  I've even brought my skis in for a stone grind the second weekend of October (very early for me).  The next moment, however, I'm shedding the leg warmers, removing the fleece cap from beneath my helmet, and considering only wearing a jersey with arm warmers and maybe a vest.  Mother Nature is continuously trying to convince me to practice polygamy:

Appalachian Gap'd at the Allen Clark Memorial Hill Climb

24:27.  32 seconds faster than the previous Allen Clark Hill Climb record set by Stefan Bumbeck in god knows when.  Unofficial records seem to indicate the the record stood for 12 years.  Do the math.  Okay, I'll do it for you.  1998!  I was a freshman in college in the fall of 1998.  Wow!  Back in the fall of Elliott Smith's XO, which played on repeat in my 1992 model JVC stack stereo my dad purchased for me for my birthday in 1992, when I was in seventh grade.  Man, that stereo sounded so great.  Thanks, dad.  Anyway...

Thank You, Steven Slater, For Your Inspiration To Update My Blog And For Having A Great Character Name For A 1980's Movie

I have no excuses for not posting for 20 days.  Except that I had a final interview with the school board at the Ripton Elementary School for the grades 5/6 teacher, I got the job, I've had issues with my endorsement areas and therefore my qualifications as a teacher of all subjects, I've gotten the go-ahead with the contract signing and paperwork, I've gotten a key to the school and I've brought my dogs into the classroom as of today to help make me feel at home.

Just one of those weekends...

Here I'm radioing to the laws of physics: "Please make this pain stop!"

 

Six days after my first ascent up Mount Washington on a bicycle, which resulted in a second place finish, I took the biggest beating of my hill climbing career on Mount Ascutney.  Being the BUMPS point series overall leader, I received a super neat polka-dot jersey before the race start.  Much to my chagrin, I did not do my new tunic victorious justice.  In cycling, there's a myth of the curse of the World Champion.  The person who wins the World Championships, either in the road race or time trial disciplines, has a horrendous season the following year.  Perhaps there is a curse of the BUMPS polka-dot jersey?  I doubt it.  Besides, I think the jersey's pretty cool and would be really disappointed if I was defrocked of my lordship of the hill climbs.