Tour de Corruption

A 50 minute video talk given by Greg LeMond is quite depressing. He says he would not want his son to race bikes professionally, that Lance Armstrong has doped and will never admit it because he has no conscience and the officials in the sport are all corrupt. Lance's response via twitter was that Greg has been drinking the haterade.

I didn't find the speech to be that hateful, although if you are Lance it certainly is considered as such. He brought up some valid points, such as how to go about cleaning up the sport by giving a break to riders who come forward and admit to doping and punishing the coaches, doctors and pharmacists who give riders the illegal meds.

Personally, I think a clean race is much more exciting than a bunch of steroid freaks of nature climbing mountains without seeming winded. Like all the cheats in the world, someday the truth will come out and damage will be done. Just look at wall street, the Catholic church and the economy for proof.

Saturday's bike ride

I went on a nice bike ride yesterday w/ the club. We rode 63 miles up to Magic Mountain area, then towards Vasquez. Here's the route. Only difference was we rode Sand Canyon to Plascerita Cyn., rather than stay on Sierra Hwy. Added a few miles and some steep climbs, but we rode through nice scenery and avoided traffic. We climbed over 3,000 ft.

Not bad for somebody who has been off the bike for 16 years and started again less than 4 months ago, and had to use the granny gears to get up a hill no steeper than a freeway overpass. I'm also happy to be able to make it over the hills, because that means more scenic rides with fewer cars and traffic lights.

I also joined a team and plan to race again next year.

New Images

There is an interesting article in today's New York Times about major corporations changing their logos. Every logo went from bold, corporate, powerful all-caps type and symbols to colorful, lower case, narrower text. Also many incorporated leaves in the graphics.

This is a good thing. Gone are the stuffy, cold graphics and in with the friendlier symbols. The leaves, of course, say we care about the planet and the colors say optimism and growth.

And on a totally unrelated note, here's our group terrorizing Victory Blvd. this morning (I'm hidden in the blue helmet).

Angeles Crest Ride

We rode up Angeles Crest Highway today. Long hills that seem to never end, but are not too steep. Weather was perfect and I managed to keep a decent pace. Lots of people on the roads today. We regrouped at Newcomb's Ranch restaurant & bar. Didn't I just post about a place where the only customers are bikers and cyclists?

Me, surrounded by some pretty fast people.

I love this photo because the 2 guys in the middle got Newcastle Ale. A hot day or riding hills, beer is the last thing I want to see until I get home.

The future workplace from hell is not here to stay

Time magazine had an interesting article about working in the future/ present. Most of what they say will happen is happening now, such as working from home on a project specific deadline for various companies. But this is only happening now because of the poor economy. After a short time, nobody is really going to want to hustle for work from various sources all the time. It's exhausting and creates a feast or famine lifestyle. Nobody will turn down work for fear of not getting a call back for the next project.

Furthermore, there is an advantage to working in an office with colleagues. Communication is instant and all the resources of the office are available. Yes, the commute may suck, but working at home in a vacuum makes more phone calls and emails necessary. This is, in fact, the reason architects cannot outsource their work to India and the Philippines. A roll of tracing paper and quick sketches from the coworker sitting next to you replaces a wordy email, a tighter sketch, a scan and an email. I am certain this is true for other businesses as well.

The other thing that bothers me about the article is this notion of generation X doing away with the coveting corner office. Not to say the corner office is the most important status symbol, but it will only be replaced with another petty perk. And gen X may be young, energetic and computer savvy, but they also have no life experience and certainly no business experience. With them, everything is instant and surrounded by bright visual overstimulation and childish clothing.

So Time magazine, please go to the nearest ATM, make a large withdrawal, go out and buy a clue.

Today's ride

Me, on the left. Fun to ride in a big group.

Bikers, Cyclists, whatever

I remember in the late 80's, my friends and I would do this great bike ride in the hills above Irvine. A hilly, scenic pass with nothing around thru Santiago Canyon. It was a long, hard ride and if you bonked half way through it you were screwed, because it only had two outlets to get back to the city. About the only thing out there was this biker bar in the middle of nowhere, called Cook's Corner. We would stop and hang out. Funny thing was the only customers were either bikers or cyclists. As I sat there one Saturday afternoon with my friends, I noticed that there was a similarity between us - we needed to sit where we could see our bikes. You think of this more with cyclists, but I watched bikers look over their shoulders to check out their bikes, just like us.

It was a mellow place (at least during the late mornings that we were there), and it was a place that only cyclists and bikers seemed to know about.