O Canada

Mary's new bike

Wha Guru Chew

I'm sitting at my computer, eating one of these things with some coffee, and feeling the need to blog about them. Have you guys ever had one of these? Holy crap they're good! They're sold as energy bars, but they're straight up candy. Carmel and nut goodness. Go buy some. Cashew Almond is my fav, but there's 4 other varieties. Read about them here.

That's What I'm Talkin' Bout!

Velocity Escape tubular rim, Chris King hub, DT Revolution 1.8/1.5 spokes, DT aluminum nipples, laced 3 cross with Continental Competition tubular and Zipp skewer. Bike porn of the highest order.

Thanks to Brian for the bulk of the labor.

Blatant Rip Off

Here is my gratuitous picture of Sampson all tucked in for his nap. I stole the idea from Brian's recent post.

Winter Escape

Well it's finally winter here in Madison. We've had snow for about a week, and temps have been low enough for it to stick around. The other day Mary and I went to Olbrich Botanical Gardens to get away from the cold for a few hours. Here are some pictures.

Weekends Fore and Aft, and a Bakke Sighting

Last weekend Mary and I were in Grand Forks for the Laneman's wedding. He was a bumbling, crying lump throughout the ceremony, but pulled it together for the reception. Go over to his blog and make fun of him. Scotty and Kayla made the arduous journey from Missoula. There were some concerns that Lane and Scott would run away and elope, but it turns out Scott just wanted to celebrate with friends and family. I had a lot of fun talking with everybody (Dan, I'm still waiting for our picture to surface on your blog,) and congratulations to Lane and Skye.

This weekend we're staying around Madison because there are two kick-ass local events going on. The Capitol Square Sprints brings elite international nordic skiers to race around the capitol. It's crazy and one of the contributing reasons why we moved to Madison. We don't have any snow here, so they've been making snow all week in a parking lot and trucking it to the square. I'll have some pics up here next week of all the action. Saturday is the 16th Annual Cronometro Bike Swap. I don't need any bike parts, but it's always fun to look.

As I was writing this post Dr. and Mrs. Dingle came over. They were on their way home from residency interviews in Milwaukee. They checked out the house and were harassed by Sampson. They had to be home this evening, so it was a short visit, but fun none the less.

Tomorrow I'll post some stuff about the "surge."

2007 Predictions

Ok everyone. Here are the predictions for the year. I'm not really "feeling it" like I was last year, so the predictions might be a little lame. My apologies in advance.

• I will continue my streak of not shopping at Walmart.
• Floyd Landis will lose his USADA trial and subsequently his CAS trial as well, and will retire immediately.
• Jan Ullrich will not find a team, and he too will retire.
• Ivan Basso will again win the Giro, but also the Tour.
• Brian and I will go 1-2 in a road race.
• Dick Cheney will be pardoned by the President for his role in war profiteering. He will remain the Vice President.
• Slick Willy will handily dethrone Sampson as the fastest dog at the Sycamore Park dog park.
• Barack Obama will not run for President
• Roger Federer will win the French Open.
• The Cubs will make the playoffs and come within a few outs of going to the World Series. Their not making it will be blamed on the curse of the Billy Goat.
• I will not win a cyclocross race, but I will race the elite national championship.
• Scotty Johnson will grow a pair and run regardless of his shin splints.
• On the war in Iraq, the President will continue to say, "We'll stay until we're victorious," but he'll never define "victory."
• Andy and Becca will end up in the Twin Cities.
• Team Brown Bear will have the ugliest kit in the midwest.
• Some sort of major world changing event will happen.

Thats all I got.