Brush with Greatness, part 2

Last winter, my wife and I ate breakfast in Chicago at a table next to this guy - who was in Dumb and Dumber and was also featured on a recent episode of The Office. Last Saturday, my son ran into Joba Chamberlain and shook his hand at the NU-OU game, and before the game, my wife and I saw this guy driving around the Haymarket:


Five points goes to the first person who guesses who this was.

Night Rider

No, not that Knight Rider.

Warmer, but still not quite.

I am referring to cycling at night - a newer experience for me since I just got the Surly this summer. There have been lots of rides home on the road bike from the summer post ride gatherings - but those rides were on well-lit streets for the most part. Riding at night on the Jamaica trail is completely different, especially when the ride starts and ends in the dark. A couple of weeks ago on the Monday night cross ride, I ran into da Term and Nicol out by Roca, and along with Greg, we rode back together in increasing darkness.

Last night, Adrian, Byekin, Ho Fo Sho, Da Term (who ran into us by accident, and had to leave us at 14th street 'cause we were too slow), and I headed out in the darkness to dodge the deer on the way to the Roca Tavern. Great weather, and a great ride with lots of laughs. I will definitely have to get a better light if I want to keep doing this, though - a light more like this:


instead of this:

Doctor convicted of assaulting cyclists

Have you been following this story?  This is remarkably similar to the incident that happened to Kew, Jace, Adrian, Aaron G., Kelly B., and I on the last day of TDN in 2007.  In that incident, a pickup driver buzzed Kew and I on Roca Road, and then drove around and cut off the other four guys, slamming on his brakes when he got in front of them.  Fortunately, no crashing in that incident, unlike this one:

From velonews:

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury on Monday found Dr. Christopher Thomas Thompson guilty of assaulting cyclists by abruptly stopping his car in front of them on a hilly Los Angeles County road last year. 

Thompson, a former emergency room doctor, was found guilty of six felonies and one misdemeanor and could face as much as five years in prison. 

He was remanded and ordered held without bail until sentencing. He was handcuffed in the courtroom after the verdict was read.

Thompson was accused of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem. The most serious charges stem from a July 4, 2008, incident on Mandeville Canyon Road, the road where Thompson lives, where he was accused of abruptly stopping his car in front of two cyclists. Other charges relate to a similar incident on the same road that did not result in injuries.

In the July 4 incident, the two cyclists hit the rear of Thompson's car; one slammed through the rear window, the other catapulted over the car into the road. In the earlier incident, the cyclists said they narrowly avoided hitting the rear of Thompson's car.

I am hopeful that this will set a national precedent for how these situations are handled in the court system.

NJO w/Wayne Bergeron

Thursday night I have the pleasure of performing with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra and our special guest top Los Angeles trumpet player Wayne Bergeron.  Name a movie or t.v. show from the last twenty years, and chances are Wayne has played on the soundtrack.  A partial list of film credits include Superman Returns, Mission Impossible 3, The Guardian, Ice Age 2, (the Meltdown), X-Men 3,The Incredibles, Spiderman 2, Fantastic Four, Pink Panther, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Team America, National Treasure, The Life Aquatic, Friday Night Lights, Anchorman, White Chicks, The Notebook, The Day After Tomorrow, 3 Musketeers, Starsky and Hutch, Pirates of the Caribbean, Paycheck, Hollywood Homicide, Legally Blonde 2, Drumline, Catch Me if You Can, South Park, Flubber and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. at the Cornhusker - here is a short video of Wayne playing some sizzling trumpet:

Mud and Cornbread

I was really looking forward to the ride to the corn maze on Sunday - I haven't gotten out on the bike nearly enough this month.  Stupid mud.  Thanks to Nicol, Loupy, and Da Term for helping to reduce the gumbo surplus at my house Sunday night, and thanks to Da Term for bringing the killer jalapeno cornbread - good stuff (and lethal, too).

Plans for Sunday

To review:

What:  Ride out to Corn Maze

When:  Sunday, Oct 25 at 1 p.m.

Where:  Meet at the Bison at Pioneers Park, then ride out to Benson Farms.

Cost:  $10

Post-ride food and drink at my house - I plan on making way too much gumbo for just the three of you who have told me you are planning on coming over so far - so even if you're short of time, come by for a quick bowl of good stuff if you can.  E-mail me if you need to get my address.

If it looks like we'll get rained out (or if the maze is closed due to mud), feel free to come by for food, drink, and fun anyway. 

This might be fun...

Anybody interested?

From Bike Pedalers:

On October 22nd, Bike Pedalers invites you to join us as we experience a One Night Event in movie theaters nationwide featuring the debut of “Race Across the Sky” – a documentary covering the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 bike race. Known as one of the most intense endurance races of all time, this film features Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael, Dave Wiens, and other elite and amateur cyclists who overcame extreme challenges to participate in this grueling race.

EVENT DETAILS
Race Across the Sky – Leadville Trail 100, featuring Lance Armstrong, Dave Wiens and Chris Carmichael.
October 22nd at 7:00pm CT at Southpointe Theater. Call the Southpointe movie theater box office to purchase your tickets, 441 0222.
Followed by complimentary drinks and socializing with your fellow cyclists at Bike Pedalers (16th and Pine Lake).
Thanks again, we look forward to seeing you.

EVENT OVERVIEW
At 10,000+ feet, against the misty backdrop of a former mining town, Leadville, Colorado, 1282 cyclists line the starting line. For many, it will be the most difficult race of their lives. For some, a bragging right to say they raced alongside the best in the world. Some imagine victory. Most hope only to finish. But everyone will count


The race that started 25 years ago as a running race to drive tourism in Leadville has now grown to a lottery cap of 1000+ competitors, many of them the world’s most elite cyclists. But the Leadville Trail 100 "Race Across the Sky" Mountain Bike Race is not just a race of man against man: it’s man vs. man, man vs. self, man vs. elements, man vs. time. A clock set for 12 grueling hours slugs through 100 miles, over 14,000 vertical feet of climbing, some two miles above sea level, through extreme climate changes ranging from heat to hail, from rain to snow. To the racers, the risks of injury, fatigue and mechanical failure pale next to the chance that they will fall behind the 12 hour cut off mark and be eliminated.

Rivalries include six-time defending champion Dave Wiens vs. international star / seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Inspirational stories of human triumph include a Leadville woman rider who was critically injured by a car while training for last year’s race, another who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and 45+ rider who has raced all 15 years.

Whether they’re international stars of the sport or everyday folks with the will to finish a race whose difficulty is on par with the Ironman, the grit to push to their own physical and emotional limits strikes an elegant symmetry between racer and environment and a struggling former mining town whose very existence now relies on the tourism generated by this race.


To view additional still photos and watch the trailer for the movie from the 2009 Leadville Trail 100 race, visit www.raceacrossthesky.com


At 12,600 feet anything can happen...Don’t miss this intense one night event!