Sweet Irony

Well I went for a ride yesterday and things went well enough that I have nothing to type about so I'll have to link to this video about having nothing to talk about.

I went for a ride yesterday starting when the sun was low in the east and finished up when it was low in the west. This reminded me of Rush Hour (the fastest hands in the east meet the biggest mouth in the west) and so I immediately started to look for a funny clip from that movie. In my search I found this video of a bizarre boxing match. But to keep things bike related I'll put this one up here too.

Back around the turn of the century my brother and I raced in something called the Wisconsin Off Road Series (WORS) and I remember one race where a rider being lapped was being over taken by a fast rider and instead and asking for the trail just pushed him aside. I heard the guy talking about it after the race and he was understandably pissed. But a spectator getting all riled up? And then being like "I'll teach you not to hit by hitting you and then throwing you off a bridge!" Makes about as much sense as this (and here's a spoof of that).

I just happened across this video and it reminded me of Iron Dogs. Now I'm not saying that either of these feats (the video and Iron Dogs) are not tough but really how tough can something be when you are running an engine? Or in a heated truck? Or having a video crew follow you around? The purported toughness of either of these events rings a little hollow for me as does almost anything that relies solely on fossil fuels and big, expensive vehicles for progress.

But this talk of motors reminds me of this picture:

Madeline Island residents began racing cars on Lake Superior in 1980 - a year the ice was good and there was little snow. The racing became known as the Madeline Island School of Defensive Driving Taught though Practical Application Methods.

This strikes me as clever (though I probably wouldn't have thought it too clever if I had been living within hearing distance of a race). And it also strikes me as odd that they say the races started in 1980 but the picture (there was a picture about this caption but I didn't get that in) and from 1978.

So my ride yesterday went well, and I even rode by where the shit-eating took place. Here is a picture of the scene as of yesterday:

In case you can't see: it's a gut pile from a deer and the snow is all packed down around it from tracks of scavengers. Oh sweet irony!

And here are some more pictures taken during the ride:

I was actually able to keep up what I thought was good pace throughout the ride. While out on the ride I was looking forward to getting back to look up how long my route was so I could figure out my average speed so I can be somewhat realistic about my expectations for Arrowhead. I got back and the beginning of the ride had been so long ago that I couldn't remember my route so I could figure out my average speed. It's probably for the best though, the number probably would've been so low as to be depressing anyway.