I usually hit the Aftermath Café on Michigan Tech’s campus before my physics class for a personal pizza and some caffeine. I usually do a little studying as well. I almost always overhear interesting conversations.

Lately, most of the conversations have been political in nature. I find it quite sad that many of these new adults, these amateurs of life, have more hate and bias within themselves than they will probably ever realize. In fact, listening to them, as a 31-year-old adult, brings about the realization of just how judgmental and irrational I was as a young adult.

Age often softens the soul bringing about tolerance, although I hope that respect is the main product of this transformation. With respect comes consideration followed by understanding. This isn’t just concerning political ideas, but other simpler life events as well, like snow.

During the election, I heard a lot of anti-religious comments. I was disappointed to find that these young, passionate students allow themselves to waste their energy hating people of different beliefs rather than trying to think of a common ground. On a smaller scale, they waste their precious energy hating snow.

You’re probably wondering why I keep bringing up snow in this philosophical writing. Well, today’s episode of eaves-dropping, even though I didn’t really have to strain to overhear her passionate, loud dialogue, was prompted by an overweight girl who had nothing better to do than complain about snow. Driving was crazy and her friend slid across a lane into a curb, blah, blah, blah. She hates snow. It’s too cold.

Interesting. Instead of addressing her complaints with possible solutions, like throwing the car into a lower gear when going downhill (we have big hills) or wearing several layers of breathable clothing and a hat and gloves to keep warm, she continues to find things to complain about.

Now, one can complain about politics and religion, but I draw the line at snow. I had the benefit of seeing the sun playing peek-a-boo behind the puffy clouds full of cool colors such as gray, blue, and purple. The snow flakes came slowly. The sun came out. The snowflakes returned in full force. Oh yes, I will be snowblowing not-so-bright and quite early in the morning. I welcome it.

There is nothing like the fresh, crisp air of the winter as one finds comfort in the day to day activities of the wintertime. Snowblowing is an exhilarating workout complete with the satisfaction of accomplishment. Skiing is the sensation of flying with a soft fwump at the end of an inevitable crash. Sledding is the laughter of a childhood past. Biking is simply crazy. Snow falling from the sky is…

…simply amazing.

It’s going to snow, Sunday. That means one thing: it’s time to ride.

I have some great dirt roads around my house that I’d like to explore. I plan to ride my mountain bike because, well, you never know where you’ll end up.

Group ride – Sunday afternoon – 3:00 – my house. [Directions to my house inserted here.]

This is just a fun, social thing, so don’t be afraid to join in. I’m not looking to set any speed records. Simple appetizer/dessert potluck to follow with coffee and hot cocoa. Nothing big – just fun.

Please let me know if you’re coming.

Thanks!

Di

I didn’t get many responses. One person wanted to come out, but she needed to carpool. No one from her area came. Another person told me he might, but he had to see how the waves were (yes, he said waves). My teammate, Pat, told me he would be there unless it was a hard rain. Well, I purposely chose a day that it was going to snow, so Pat came. Dan was a surprise. He didn’t tell me he was coming, but I was very happy to have him show up.

Once upon a Sunday afternoon, Pat, Dan, and Diane headed out on their expensive, full suspension, mountain race bikes to ride on the snow-covered roads around Di’s house in the Keweenaw Peninsula. Some of you may be shaking your heads and thinking we’re weird just about now. Well, please allow me to clarify: we are weird.

We had a good ride and we were all happy that we met up to do this. I knew that if I didn’t make a commitment to other people, I would not ride. The fact that I chose to do this got Pat and Dan out. We hit a couple of the roads around my house and even hit a short, beautiful stretch of two-track that used to be a trolley line. I had no idea, but it was pretty cool learning that we had a trolley. We hit the snowmobile trail back to my road and braved the crosswind to my house. Dan had to leave right away, but Pat and I sat down for a couple beers, some chips, and a little zucchini bread.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the sun peaking through the clouds as the snowflakes fell from the sky.

***

I figured I would make note of the weather conditions and the clothing I wore with some comments about how I felt. I thought this might be useful for figuring out what to wear in the future.
* Cycling shorts and cross country ski pants - perfect
* Patagonia medium weight Capilene base layer, Red Jacket cyclocross jersey, light jacket - was great until we hit a crosswind
* Cross country ski gloves - excellent until about an hour into the ride and it got windy
* Thin ski socks, cycling socks, cycling shoes - fine until we hit the crosswind

Weather conditions: 26°F; feels Like 18°F; 8 mph from NNW

I like cows.

That is no secret. Actually, allow me to correct myself. I love cows.

I’m not terribly fond of the smell of fresh bovine manure on fields, but other than that, the cow is a wonderful animal.
• They are cute.
• They moo. (mooing is funny)
• They taste good.
• They produce milk.
• They moo.

Even while riding my bike, I have had the opportunity to appreciate cows. On one of my routes, I pass a cow farm that produces milk for Jilbert’s Dairy. I think that’s pretty cool and it’s one of the highlights of my ride.

It is my immense appreciation for the cow that is the reason why I enjoyed a fairly recent email from my brother. It is called The Two Cows Economics Lesson. Here is an abbreviated version of the email:

Socialist
You have two cows.
The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
You form a cooperative to tell him how to manage his cow.

Communist
You have two cows.
The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
You wait in line for hours to get it.
It is expensive and sour.

American Corporation
You have two cows.
You sell one, lease it back to yourself, and do an IPO on the second one. You force the two cows to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when one cow drops dead. You spin an announcement to the analysts stating you have down-sized and are reducing your expenses. Your stock goes up.

Japanese Corporation
You have two cows.
You redesign them so they are one tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. They learn to travel on unbelievably crowded trains. Most are at the top of their class at cow school.

Taliban Corporation
You have all the cows in Afghanistan, which are two.
You don’t milk them because you cannot touch any creature’s private parts.
Then you kill them and claim a US bomb blew them up while they were in the hospital.

Iraqi Corporation
You have two cows.
They go into hiding.
They send radio tapes of their mooing.

Florida Corporation
You have a black cow and a brown cow.
Everyone votes for the best-looking one.
Some of the people, who like the brown one best, vote for the black one.
Some people vote for both. Some people vote for neither. Some people can’t figure out how to vote at all. Finally, a bunch of guys from out-of-state tell you which is the best-looking cow.

Californian
You have a cow and a bull.
The bull is depressed.
It has spent its life living a lie.
It goes away for two weeks.
It comes back after a taxpayer-paid sex-change operation.
You now have two cows.
One makes milk; the other doesn’t.
You try to sell the transgender cow.
Its lawyer sues you for discrimination.
You lose in court.
You sell the milk-generating cow to pay the damages.
You now have one rich, transgender, non-milk-producing cow. You change your business to beef. PETA pickets your farm. Jesse Jackson makes a speech in your driveway. Cruz Bustamante calls for higher farm taxes to help “working cows”. Hillary Clinton calls for the nationalization of 1/7 of your farm “for the children.” Gray Davis signs a law giving your entire farm to Mexico. The L.A. Times quotes five anonymous cows claiming you groped their teats. You declare bankruptcy and shut down all operations.
The cow starves to death.
The L.A. Times’ analysis shows your business failure is Bush’s fault.

So, next time you find yourself worried about the economy, just jump on your bike, ride past a cow farm, think about the Two Cows Economics Lesson, and know how fortunate you are…unless you fit into any of the above economic designations.

Andrea wrote about Lance Armstrong’s comeback and referred to his reception by the media. Check out her post, Don’t Be a Hater, to read more.

Lance comes across as an arrogant Texan who leads a life that nurtures this persona. I truly understand how this can turn people off, because I’ve been turned off by several celebrities whose careers and reputations aren’t as prestigious as they could be because they choose to publicly take sides on controversial issues, or their personal lives are freely displayed to the public. Truthfully, I really don’t care about Lance’s personality. Actually, I prefer not to know much about any celebrity because I almost always find myself being very disappointed, and then it is difficult to enjoy their work. They are entertainers and athletes, and I prefer to keep them that way.

Lance is most certainly a cycling God. I credit him with the unusual strength to fight through incredible amounts of pain and to exercise great self control. That is something that most people really don’t understand and can’t even begin to fathom. I once saw Lance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jay asked how Lance managed to do so well, and Lance was straight up about training and maintaining weight. He was blunt. Sure, people could take that for cockiness, but Lance told them how it is. There is no magic pill. Lance has an amazing willpower that allows him to just do it.

Many accuse him of doping even though it has never been proven. While not being a supporter of doping, I do recognize that racing at the level of the Tour de France requires amazing willpower and an unobtainable dedication for most. These characteristics are necessary, even for dopers.

As a cyclist, I am a Lance fan for the greatest of reasons: he inspires me. Last winter, I bought a Lance Armstrong book for training purposes. While I don’t follow the plan, I use some of the methods and I remember a lot of little details like remembering to breathe deeply to use my lung capacity to its fullest. Recalling advice such as this during races has allowed me to move to a higher level of racing. In a sense, Lance’s existence as a cyclist has served a purpose for me, as a cyclist.

My first true encounter with Lance’s racing was early this spring during our commutes to Wisconsin races. One of my teammates has a swanky van with a DVD player and a Tour de France box set. We watched Lance. I loved it. There was someone in the Tour de France whom I was familiar with, could identify with, and was inspired to race by. When I tried watching it without him, I just couldn’t. I had no one to cheer for who inspired me and affected me at such a personal level in my athletic life.

I will continue to periodically look to Lance for inspiration throughout the off season and into race season. I know that I have nothing to lose and much to gain from the advice offered through the name of Lance Armstrong. I look forward to his return.