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…must come to an end, at least that’s how the saying goes. For five years Team CSC has gone from a second rate team to one of the most successful teams in the pro peloton. What has always made CSC so remarkable was not that they had a few super stars, but that every rider was really above average. As a team they were much more than the individual riders. So it seems unbelievable that after years of a very good winning formula, the team is starting to dissolve. (more…)

So if you’re like me you’re probably not sure if you should buy that macbook or if you should liquidate all your assets and buy some farmland and live off the grid. A friend of mine asked if I thought we were going to go into a depression or not. And I think I changed my answer a dozen times. I’ve always had an interest in macroeconomics ever since college, but I barely understood it then, and it’s even more complex now. As a complete amateur hack in econ, here are my thoughts about what’s going down (and it’s mostly down). Take it with a proverbial bag of rock salt. (more…)

I used to like Sigg products. I have their aluminum box which is a good lunch box, and I use a Sigg bottle for my white gas camp stove. However I can’t abide by the recent trend of everyone drinking out of these fancy pants Sigg bottles. Of course the BPA plastic bottle scare, and Sigg’s clever marketing department are the big reason behind this trend. It also doesn’t help that Sheryl Crow blames plastic bottles for her cancer. Of course this conclusion is entirely anecdotal, and French kissing Lance could have given her cancer too. Who knows. The thing I can’t stand is that no one bothers to question what the mystery lining in the Sigg bottles is made of. We’re just supposed to trust that it’s safe. Also they never quite explain how this mystery lining doesn’t peel when the bottle gets dented either, once again we’re to trust them. Here’s a short list of why I can’t stand Sigg bottles for drinking

• $22 and up…
• narrow mouth
• impossible to clean
• can’t squeeze it to get more water out faster
• can’t tell by looking at it how much water you have left (Scottie how do you make clear aluminum?)
• ridiculously high smugness to practical ratio
• They have a range called “lifestyle bottles” Lifestyle bottle? Ugh..

Dear Mr Abrams, Before you embark on another load of unanswerable mysteries that go nowhere, please wrap up that other mess you created. And could you at lay off the airline industry? They’re in bad enough shape as it is.

P.S. thanks for bringing Pacey back to TV Jo-Jack needs the work.

I remember when I was a kid I was glued to the TV when the Seoul Olympics were on. Of course we were still in the cold war, and it was an informal proxy war between the West and the Soviets which lent to the drama. However it felt like something really important was going on. The news cycle slowed down, and the entire world stopped what they were doing to engage in the Olympics. The last two summer games I hardly watched. All I watched was Judo and some track cycling, other than that I couldn’t care less. I didn’t even watch the last winter Olympics and couldn’t even tell you which country they were in. Am I alone in my disinterest for the Olympics, or have they world-wide ceased being relevant and interesting? Here’s what I think is wrong and what needs to get fixed: (more…)

I think it’s completely repugnant to write a review about a book that I’ve never read, and as much as I’d love to judge the book Eat, Pray, Love without having to slog through it, I have no right to criticize. I also don’t think it’s necessary to add to the vitriol of the Elizabeth Gilbert haters out there. Just read a few one star Amazon reviews and you’ll get all the umbrage you can eat. What I will write a review about is the crazy Eat, Pray, Love cult that’s come out of it. I think this book will be on the NYT Bestseller list forever, and it may soon replace the Bible as the most published book. I immediately start looking for fire exits when people come up to me with that fawning glazed look in their eye and a gleeful smirk because I know what’s coming next. You just have to read this book… And I hate that I have to feel like such a jerk when I tell them I have no interest. They always look at me as if I’d thrown out a box of kittens.

So what is my beef with this book? (more…)

Never watch the Today Show before going to work. I know it just makes me grumpy first thing in the morning. It’s not bad enough that 50% of the show is “pre-cap” (Coming up soon a segment on the five things in your kitchen that will give you cancer!) and the perky morning banter makes me want to go back to bed. Now all news has to drone on and on about the price of gas and food. The price of gas is high. Well no kidding. How is this news? Unless you live in an Hutterite cave, everyone knows this. What I hate is the hysteria this causes, and the sudden realization that foreign oil dependence is a problem. Of course our foreign oil dependence was always a problem, but we didn’t care until our wallets were affected.

Which brings me to the latest Today Show idiocy. A few days ago they did a piece on how the corn crop in Iowa was ruined due to the floods. They then follow up with a piece on how food prices will go up because of the failed corn crop. They cut to some “man on the street” interviews of Americans whining about food prices. Because it’s all about me, me, me. No one cares about the farmer who lost his entire crop or his family or his farm. No one interviewed to see how they’re going to make it. Waahh cereal went up a buck, poor me. No one cares about people living in the developing world who now can’t afford corn or rice and who actually are starving to death. Waaahh corn sweeteners are too expensive so a bottle of Coke costs $.20 extra, poor me. Cheap food is a luxury not a necessity America, get over it. I realize there are a lot of folks who have lost their jobs and homes (Thank you Countrywide, Morningstar, Citibank, and pals), and for those folks the cost of living inflation does hurt them. They have a legitimate reason to worry and complain about the price of food and gas. However, the rest of us with full stomachs and roofs over our heads should suck it up and be grateful.

So GM is betting the company on their plug-in hybrid concept. Meanwhile the press fawns over how “green” this all is. California is also pushing a big initiative to have recharging stations available all over the place so folks can charge their hybrid. The thing that drives me nuts about all this talk of moving to electric is that it doesn’t really solve our energy problem. It just pushes it from petroleum to electric. Sure right now it’s cheaper per mile to run your car on electricity than gas, but what happens when everyone starts doing this? The law of supply and demand will tell you what’s going to happen next. In addition has anyone done a study to find out if our current electricity infrastructure can handle this demand? What will the grid do when everyone wants to plug in their cars. Couple this with the increased demand from all the server farms, cell phones, laptops, etc that are being thrust into the market everyday. Think of how many things you own that you had to plug-in a decade ago vs. the things that have to plug-in today. Everyone forgets about the blackout that took out all of northeast America a few years ago. Will our aging electric grid be able to handle everyone’s car? Not to mention the waste. More then half of the electric energy is wasted just getting it from the generator to your house. How green is that? The real path to being green is using less and expecting less. The real problem is how do you sell that?

So Campagnolo announced and 11 speed rear cassette that’s going to be part of their new Super Record group. As cool as it is to see the Super Record name revived, every bike mechanic in the world probably groaned to hear that another cog was being added. Campy claims they can do this with current indexing distances and wheel dish as their 10 speed system. I have no idea how this is possible. It’s like trying to squeeze that imaginary fifth passenger into a toyota yaris. Sure it’s “possible” but how well does it work. 11 speed makes sense for pros who need an 11T-28T range to climb the Alps by day and then have their bikes tuned by professional mechanics by night.

With the nice weather and high gas prices, I’ve had more friends ask me to look at their bikes to get them back on the road. (more…)

Five dollar Five dollar foot longs….

There now I got you singing it for the rest of the day too.