Competitve Eating

The Black Widow ate 173 Buffalo wings in 12 minutes to cap off a summer of competitive eating. That's quite a feat!

Just two months ago, six time defending hot dog champ Takeru Kobayashi devoured 63 HDB (hot dog and buns), eight more than his previous best, and finished second to Joey Chestnut. Golly. How'd you like to eat 63 HDBs and finish second?

Anyway, these competitions seem to favor the sprint-eater. These are short events, ending in 15 minutes. Couldn't they host a marathon eating competition for the slow-twitch jowlers? I mean, could you imagine what a person could put down in a two hour competition? A whole side of beef?

Perhaps the Old Country Buffet could host it. I have witnessed such athletes working up a sweat while eating there.

Let the games begin!

Haiku Time!

Participation
The United Way Campaign
It's compulsory!

Burning Man Burnt

The Burning Man effigy was torched four days early by some performance artist yesterday. After being arrested, he later posted $25K bail to get out of the pokey.

Shame on him!

“It’s obviously a pretty selfish act, and people are disappointed about that, but spirits overall are pretty high,” said Burning Man spokeswoman Andie Grace.

Meanwhile, the Hedonism Chapter of Nevada is planning the first ever combined "United - Way - 5K - Race - for - the - Cure - Blood - Drive" to promote a more family friendly image of the annual pagan Burning Man festival.

You will be contacted soon with ways in which you will help support the cause.

Upcoming Bike Swaps

1) Omahabike.org's silent auction
5:00 - 7:30pm Thursday August 30

2) LINCOLN BICYCLE SWAP MEET
Saturday September 8th, 2007 ( 9am-3pm )
5300 South Folsom St.

Looking for a road bike. Anyone been to these?

Autumn is Here

Along side the sights of the yellow school buses, the fanaticism of Husker Nation, the grand corporate events...Cycling Challenge & the Corporate Cup 10k, today I saw the first real sign that autumn is officially here: the pink-tinted leaves on the top of this tree in my neighborhood.

It's the beginning of the change and it's all around us now.

How can this be? It was so incredibly hot just a couple of weeks ago, and last week really wasn't much of a reprieve. And yet, the trees are starting to go dormant.

I've been in denial about this for some time now. Back in the early August, on a 95 degree day with a heat index of 108, I took the picture below of an empty swimming pool with dead leaves already in the corner. The juxtaposition of this sight against the backdrop of an oppressively sweltering day caused me to pause during a long run. As I collected my breath and snapped this picture, I wondered: where did the time go?

I could quote Othello, but Fred already beat me to the punch; somebody please help him with this. I considered drawing metaphors to my undeniably thinning hair and the aging process, but that's too depressing & self indulgent.

The truth is that summer is waning while Autumn is set to charge forth. The days are growing shorter & colder, pigskin's dominating the boob-tube, and my boss is preparing to chase me down to give freely to the United Way Campaign at the office. (Side note: giving to charities is good; mandatory "voluntary" participation is in bad taste)

I'm not going to sugarcoat/gin-soak this. This change simply sucks.

It's been a terrific summer of long rides & runs, swims and races. I've enjoyed it way too much. Thanks to all of you who contributed to these times. Indeed, the memories are wonderful; I just wish I had more.

So there it is. Fall is here, summer is no more.

Uh, yeah...Go Team!