Click away - do not read this - Contents may offend the easily offended

2/19/12 bike race re-cap...

2012-02-22T09:12:00.002-08:00

2/19 field sizes:
Cat 5 (50), Cat 4 (74), 55+/60+ (54), 30+ 4/5 (75), 50+ (72), Women 3/4 (25), 45+ (94), Women 1-3 (27), 35+ (125), Cat 3 (69), Pro/1/2 (86)

Current standings for upcoming BAR Series (add field sizes from 1/22 & 2/19 races):
1st Place: 35+, 210 racers
2nd Place: 45+, 169 racers
3rd Place: 50+, 158 racers
4th Place: 30+ 4/5, 150 racers
5th Place: Pro/1/2, 136 racers
6th Place: Cat 4, 134 racers

What this tells me: the top Masters categories have put a beat down on the other categories and if the Pro/1/2 don't up their game & up it quickly, the Cat 4s will try to edge out the 50+ (assume that the 30+ 4/5 will always sell out at 75 racers each race). Remember, I'm counting field sizes in Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr to select the best 3 categories that will compete for points in May/Jun/Jul/Aug/Sep.

No Race Drama:
The Chronic La Habra D-bags stayed away, and it was a great, drama-free race. What sucks it that the parents of the SC Velo juniors think that they're sending me some "message" by keeping their kids away because I called the parents out in December for parking illegally and then arguing with me about it. At the time, I withheld the team name, but eff 'em if they want to play it this way. The kids could have had some great racing but the parents are idiots: I'm sure that if one of those parental idiots robbed a bank, they'd want to argue about taking their sweet-ass time to remove the dye pack. I'm not knocking the kids/racers; it's not their fault the parental units are morons.

SOV:
Sponsors
Officials
Volunteers

These are the people who make the race. Without them, these races would be nothing. All are equally important as they all play an important role in my world, which is to give the bike racer a cool place to enjoy their sport. My races will never be an MBGP, a Redlands or a Tour of California; I'm small, local & fun...I'd say "friendly," but that depends upon the weight scale, which is always my fault. I thank everyone who made this race a success, and as always - a big "eff you" to my enemies, and if you are a Cat 5 or a 30+ 4/5 then you had better register online ASAP for our March 4th Dominguez Hills crit at www.socalreg.com and it will be Left Turns this time!

Whitney, Winehouse...who's next on the "thinning the herd" list?

2012-02-14T05:00:00.001-08:00

Well, well, well - can't say that I'm surprised. In our ever-evolving Idiocracy world of knowing more American Idol (Fox Network Karaoke) idiots than basic science or math knowledge, this should not come as a shock to anyone with an IQ over 65. And on that note, Happy Valentine's Day! Don't do drugs and/or moderate your alcohol intake! :)

February Notes, 2012

2012-02-06T05:00:00.000-08:00

Re-cap of January 22nd Crit:

Biggest field: 50+, 86 racers

Smallest field: W1-3, 22 racers

Other fields: 5 (50), 4(60), 3(53), P/1/2(50),

30+4/5(75), 55/60(66), W3/4(27), 45(75), 35(85).

As a businessman, it looks like I can replace the Elite Women (22 boots on the ground) with a 40+ 4/5 (75 boots). I can also give the P/1/2 prizelist (50 boots) to the 50+ (86 boots). The top-3 categories for the BAR Series are the 50+, 35+ and a 2-way tie for 3rd (30+ 4/5 and 45+). In case January was a fluke, I'm looking for repeats (good or bad) in our February crit.

El Dorado-woe unto those that tried to steal it from me...

Bikeable Communities is a SUSPENDED California corporation.

It's mainly run by three chronic ~~d-bags~~ club members, per the website: Martin Howard, Luciano Gonzales & Al Crawford, which explains why their corporation's currently suspended. Without contacting the 12-year promoter of El Dorado, they have made a play to take it away from me. Long Beach ~~City Manager Pat West~~ hired Al Crawford, Martin Howard threatened me with his pals & his connections to Long Beach ~~City Manager Pat West~~ & Luzo's just some poor gimp that crashed at Eldo (in the 40+ on a straightaway!) and has never recovered physically or psychologically. These non-promoters want to promote Eldo, not because they're better at promoting races, but because the La Habra Chronic ~~d-bags~~ want to return to Eldo. I'm telling all of my El Dorado riders right now: if you want me gone, I'll go. Because of the move made by Bikeable Communities (but we all know it's really La Habra Chronic ("Turtle's" team)), the City of Long Beach must enact a "bidding process," and they only renewed my permit for March, April & May. So, if you want a change-let your voice be heard! Contact Long Beach/Pat West and let them know what a horrible promoter I am for this sport and that you want non-promoter noobs at Eldo! What these idiots do not realize is that this is a 10+ year commitment, no days off every Tuesday for the next 10+ years in race season.

2012 Irvine Great Park (IGP) on Thursdays:

It's come to my attention that the Thursday's IGP rides will not be USAC-sanctioned...what this means: no USAC insurance for crashes, no upgrade points and no SoCalCup points. Spread the word, because I don't want one, single, solitary racer going to USAC or SCNCA asking for upgrades based on any results from IGP. Tuesday's El Dorado IS USAC-sanctioned, so upgrade points & experience can be acquired on Tuesday!

Recent Road Trip to Oregon Coastline:

Most of you won't care, so go ahead & bypass this. With these solitary road trips, I do a lot of thinking, daydreaming, spacing out, call it what you will. If I was an evil-profit corporate empire or a Walmart, Exxon or Starbucks then I would have eliminated the women's field about 12 years ago but I don't play like that. I never would have thought that I'd become a bike race promoter, but that's what I'm good (not great) at. I'm good at organizing barricades & cones, pulling permits and ordering toilets: I have professionally reached the exact level of my competence! Chatting up complete strangers along the Oregon coast proves that I haven't lost my people skills: I'd just rather focus on saving animals, and that's what bike race promoting really does for me. The supporters get a place to race & compete while keeping this sport alive and I get to donate money & volunteer at my animal shelters. If Long Beach chooses another promoter, oh well...it frees me up in June, July & August-I can't control that so I'm not stressing on it. All of this drama reminded me of this quote,

Abandoning things is superior, pursuing them is inferior."
—Yen T’ou

Race re-cap: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly....

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

My apologies for not getting this out sooner...I've been very sick since mid-day Sunday and on that note - please watch the movie Contagion.
The Good:

We had great support from the racers & the volunteers. I looked at my 2009, 2010 & 2011 numbers and the conversion to USCF was a success. I couldn't believe the OUTSTANDING support levels in 55/60, and if they show up again in February, I will increase their prizelist as well. For the first time in my 12 years of race promoting, the 55/60 had more racers than the pro/1/2 & if that keeps up....those elites will be fighting for the same purse as the 5s!

The Bad:

Very little shenanigans, no bad check writers, no anger balls, very few crashes. The one thing I'll remind everyone about is to not sprint for 40th place. So Cal Cup points are scored twelve deep & I pay only five deep. Anything lower than 13th means that you need to improve your top-end speed, tactics or both. The last thing I want to see is some idiot sprinting for 50th and crashing another racer...you want to sprint for 1st-there, lab partner.

The Ugly:

We had zero ugly!

In Summary:

If the numbers stay the same, then we're gonna have a very good & very competitive race year. The W3-4 out numbered the W1-3, but I'll give them until after my Feb race for them to self-correct...or I'll correct!

January, February, March & April decides May, June, July, August & September

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

After much discussion & persuasion, we are going to hold a CBR racing series for 2012. I'm going to count the field sizes of each category & average their totals for Jan-Feb-Mar-Apr. The top-3 biggest fields will compete for an overall cash award, somewhere between $1,000 & $3,000. Conversely, low, crappy support will nullify the series.

FOR EXAMPLE: the 50+ has an average size of 73 racers after those 4 months, so that puts them in the top-3. Points will now be earned in the 50+ in the remaining 5 months & the overall point leaders will be awarded extra cash for their loyal support.

I don't know how deep or how much: that depends upon the 1st four months. All categories are eligible except the 5s. So if the Cat. 3s want it, they can take it!

ALSO: the women are on the hook for this Sunday! I'm seriously considering either eliminating the W3-4 or the W1-3, so it really depends on which category breaks it off in my behind first. Free Will plays heavy, so I'll leave it up to them to decide. I'm almost sure that the replacing category, either Cat. 2 or 40+ 4/5 will surely give me more bodies than the weaker, subsidized fields. After seeing the numbers from Ontario, where the W4 had more than the "Elite" women, I'm not holding my breath.

Option A is to just have a W1-4 category.

Option B is to have a W2-4 category.

Option C is to just have a W3-4 category.

I know this isn't a popular decision. It is the racers, either men or women, that decide those categories that remain or go away. I hope not to make a decision like this as I hate to revise race flyers...I hate it! I'm lazy; I like to make my flyer for the year and leave it alone for 12 months.

Revised race flyer for 1/22/12

2012-01-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

RAGBRAI: July 22-28, 2012

2012-01-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

A Million Spokes is a documentary about RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa), and I highly recommend all cyclists to accuire & rent this dvd from Netflix. Luckily & thankfully, I will not be promoting a race that weekend, either before or after RAGBRAI.

People do RAGBRAI for all sorts of reasons. In the documentary, people talked about breast cancer, divorce, spousal suicide, Middle East IEDs, old farts having a drink in every town that they rode through, and there wasn't one single elitist d-bag/a-hole out of the 20,000+ possible interviewees. There was a woman cycling in Birkenstocks that rode all the way, from the Missouri to the Mississippi! Holy crap is that not my cup of tea; I'm so baby that I wouldn't do it without my clipless pedals.

It's inspiring to watch and it puts things in perspective. I have (even) less tolerance for a-holes, especially elitist cycling d-bags that don't have the sack to pin up but merely play pretend. BTW, the blog's www address has changed....chronic lahabra dbags (without the spaces).

Why the USA is the best nation in the world, and why tampons are never cured from cranial-rectal inversion

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

For those that have never heard of this controversy, I highly suggest that you rent the documentary Shut Up and Sing. It began with words; in fact, these words exactly:

"Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." That was all it took. Natalie Maines, a Texas native & lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, spoke those words on March 10, 2003. Boycotts, backlash and death threats soon followed the Dixie Chicks, who toured with their children.

We know more now than we did then...

In 2003, we were bombing Iraq in response to the 9/11 attacks. We didn't know that the President's entourage outed a CIA agent as retaliation for the truthful denial of Bush's yellow cake uranium claims, we didn't know that there were zero WMD's in Iraq, and we didn't know that the entire justification for going to war was a lie. If you ask the chickenhawks now, the pat response is "we went to war based on the information we had at the time..." The people that asked the hard questions or gave the answers no one wanted to hear were transferred to Siberia or much worse. Watch the movie Fair Game. What the Bush administration did to Valerie Plame was treasonous, but that's how they play.

The first person through the wall gets it the worst...

There's a reason why no one wants to be the first person through the door; they get hit with all the shrapnel, and who would deliberately choose that lot in life? People who use their voice, people who are not afraid to use words, it is these people that give America its foundation.

Speech that is free should remain free speech, and words can never harm another; the harm comes from the reaction to the offending words. That's why yelling 'fire' in a crowded theatre is illegal & that speech is not free. So the next time you're about to get all butt-hurt over words, just remember that they are only words. If you read my words and you're starting to get all butt-hurt, then change your maxipad & remember they're only words. I could not fathom such an emotionally-charged reaction to Natalie Maines' words so as to boycott and/or threaten someone with physical harm, but then again, I'm not a hillbilly douche who memorized selective parts of the Good Book.

If you can't go big then just go home...the wanna be players are so pedestrian, so predictable and to that extent, so mindnumbingly boring

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Anyone but CLH

Douche nozzles illegally park a van but I'm the A-hole for trying to get them to move.

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000-08:00

Sometimes adults are just pure pains in the ass. I have a 2-prong job at races: ensure safety of the racers & ensure continuity of the permit so bike racing does no go by way of croquet. But some idiots just insist on doing it their way, never thinking of the community at-large, which is the bike racing community.

I'm at the registration area and I see this van & several people lolly-gagging, no big deal. A few minutes later, this truck comes up to a driveway and honks its horn. The Lollygaggers are still there, blah blah blah. A few minutes after that, I walk over, wondering why the truck blew its hown & lo and behold, it's because the van is illegally parked in the driveway...no wonder business owners get pissed.

I don't ask, I tell them to move the van. I'm not nice about it: I don't say 'please,' and I don't phrase it in the form of a politically correct request. The Lollygaggers, refuse to move the man and instead start arguing with me. I then ask why must I argue with grown adults about an illegally parked vehicle. I advise them that rather than argue with me that they should choose instead, to move the van. I don't care where they want to move the van so long as it's not breaking the law. Instead, they start cursing at me! This one guy, about 200 years old, starts to dismount his bike like he's gonna swing at me but thankfully, his 185yr. old wife holds him back and saved me from an imminent ass-whooping. It's just awesome that I'm the bad guy. I see this one guy's got a USMC tattoo, so I ask if he served in the Marines and he says yes. I say "Semper Fi," and from inside the van, this woman jumps to the van's side door and screams "I'm fvcking sick of your sh*t!!!" Meltdown, Party of One? Meltdown, Party of One?

First, they should have never parked illegally. Second, if it was absolutely necessary, then it should have lasted 30 seconds. Third, it should never have lasted long enough for the business owner to be so inconvenienced so as to honk their horn at them. Fourth, By the time I walked over there, they should have been gone. Fifth, by the time I got there, they should have been in the process of parking elsewhere & apologizing. Sixth, once confronted with their chain of poor decisions, they should not have chosen to argue, but these are the very same people that look to be offended, and by God, they are never the problem - it's always YOU.

I'm stating it for the record and to all the idiots that don't learn the lesson until they are in the back of the squad car (and sometimes these morons don't learn the lesson until they're actually strapped inside the gas chamber & not even then!): do not threaten the bike racing permit process by antagonizing the business owners surrounding the bike race course.

Thin-skinned tampons do not want people having opinions...

2011-12-09T05:00:00.000-08:00

I don't shop at Nike, I don't shop at Walmart. Monsanto sucks, and so does Exxon. When I shop at Ralphs or Albertsons, I neither like nor dislike the cashiers: I don't know them.

I absolutely have NO RESPECT for cowardly little tampons that say one thing and do another. In this great country, you can hate or love on me all you want: the choice is yours. I will not stop typing, and if those words offend you, that's okay, too.

What I do not need is another thinned-skinned tampon crying about being offended from typed words. Please, do everyone a favor and stay away from bicycle races: bicycle races are very dangerous & there's no place for crybaby tampons...save those endorphins for a sport more suitable for crybabies, like thumbsucking.

FREE RACE ENTRY TO THE 1st PERSON THAT CORRECTLY GUESSES THIS TAMPON!

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

So there's this born again who's a total bible thumper. Had this guy worked more on his marriage than professing bible quotes on FB, than maybe it would have worked out but who's to say...he should have been a preacher feeling this strong about it, but I digress. Normally I don't raise awareness to this issue because we all know I do not shove my views views down the throats of others, but bible thumpers are the worst at this, especially born agains. I'm more of a "live & let live" when it comes to different religious viewpoints, as there are so many: who's to say which one is right or wrong? I love diversity, opposing views, et al.

You wanna pray to a rock that looks like a Cheesy-poof? Go ahead, I'm not against that or you. I'm against the hypocrisy of speaking in a forked tongue: saying one thing & doing another. Now I'm not talking about Scott Clark or James Petit; those two cannot be saved (no pun intended), as once the brain has killed its ability to think critically, there is no hope of reviving such dead tissue. Their brains aren't actually dead per se, but a person's inability to believe new & different concepts outside a very small belief system might as well donate the rest of their other, unused organs.

You know how you're dealing with an Intolerant? This is something I learned from my Philosophy professor. Whatever is being debated/argued/discussed, ask the Intolerant if there existed factual evidence supporting the opposing belief, would the Intolerant now believe it as true? If the Intolerant says 'yes,' then there's room for a change in the belief system. If the Intolerant says 'no,' then it doesn't matter what evidence is out there, the Intolerant will remain in the bubble with their delusion intact.

Born agains are the best at this because (in the past) they've committed more sins than addicts, hookers & dealers combined but now that they "found" that White Bearded Guy Who Walked On Water And Rose From The Dead, they are now better than you & thus holy-er. And you talk about intolerant??? It's funny, the most don't allow a personal view to interfere with those who have a different opinion, but the other way around where the religious zealot gotta tolerate the agnostic...that shit's not tolerated and that shit gets unfriended. With these people, there is no turn-the-other-cheek, there is no love-your-enemy: that's for the real spiritual people like Mother Theresa, Ghandi or the Dali Lama. People like Scott Clark, James Petit & The Tampon are merely men made of straw. They'll tell you ad nauseam how religious they are but look beyond the thin veneer of their façade & you'll see the actual person where the deeds don't match the words.

CBR's December email newsletter

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the first of December. One huge item and then other non-huge items. Because CBR races will be permitted under the USCF, there's no need for us to have racing licenses. Both El Dorado and the weekend races have already applied for USA Cycling permits; it's a done deal. To maintain our non-profit charter, we'll continue to promote national/international competition thru bicycle racing. I have initiated a CBR Loyalty Club, where racers can become members and obtain race entry fee discounts.

Between December 1st and December 31st, the price is $50. On January 1, 2012 the price will be $95. The Insider's Club will remain at $600 except for those that register 10 of their peeps & that price drops to $500/Insider. The Loyalty Club is not tax-deductible and the Insider's Club is tax-deductible. Here's what some of the smarter teams/racers have done in the past: team pays for half the Insider, sponsored racer pays other half. A person that wants CBR tax donation writes one big check for the team & racers now make blood oath to chase down breaks, win primes, & lead out sprints. Larry Shannon (Larry@breakawaydesign.com) at www.socalreg.com is kind enough to process the Loyalty Club credit card orders-he'll have it posted soon & definitely before Dec 31!

For 2012, entry fees will be $33 weekend crit($15 2nd race) & $18/Eldo. Loyalty Club members pay $25 crit($10 2nd race) and $12/Eldo. A racer can save up to $279 by becoming a $50 member: this is a no-brainer. The CBR Loyalty Club is how we'll fund the year-long prizelist. As you can tell, the prizelist has decreased for 2012 in anticipation of decreased support:

2012 USA Cycling crits at Dominguez Hills & Carson promoted by DJ Pork Chop

Cash purses hinge on support levels, so the more support, the more cash boomeranged back to the racers. This brings me to my next agenda: the change in racing categories. Because So Cal racers wanted upgrade points & So Cal Cup, I am giving it to them in 2012. I have 60min (the Cat. II category) to play with, so that means that if the Cat. IIs don't support it then it's replaced. The only voices I've heard is from the 30+ & 50+...this is how the racers can decide what that 60min block should be: LOYALTY CLUB memberships. If the majority of the memberships are from juniors 10-12 then they get their own race. If the 50+ or the 30+ decide they want that block of time, then the Loyalty Club memberships will show it.

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO:

A) Let's say the biggest Loyalty Club support is the 30+. I give them the block of time with a $1,000 top-10 purse per crit and a bonus of a $5,000 overall to the top-25 paid on Sep 2, 2012.

B) Let's say the biggest support is the 30+. I give them the block of time and have it set up as a $1,000/top-10 purse then the crit finale is a $50 or $100 Dash-4-Cash on September 2, 2012.

Either way, I hafta get rid of the money. Completely contingent upon 2012 Loyalty Club support, I will increase the cash purse as soon as the bank account allows! The next email is after the NYD ride and for those Cat. 5 racers, ya'll better pre-reg for the Dec. 11th crit 'cuz every race was full in Oct & Nov and December will be the same! Stay safe, train hard, and race smart, Christopher Lotts

Quick Links...

USA Cycling's So Cal crits on Dec 11

ONLINE REGISTRATION is www.SoCalReg.com

Currently, there is no difference between the two political parties, OR, how Goldman Sachs pimps our politicians

2011-11-23T05:00:00.000-08:00

You are sick and I am your doctor. I prescribe medicine for you. I know this medicine will kill you, so I insure you and I tell all of my other doctors about what I did so they take insurance policies out on you, too. Then I go to my stockbroker and ask the odds of you dying in the next year. He tells me 100 to 1, since you're healthy. My medicine will kill you, so I bet that you're gonna die. You take the medicine, you die and I win big. I receive millions from the insurance policy and from my bet. I am Goldman Sachs, I will not go to jail as I have not violated any law and even if I did violate the law, my former co-workers have jobs in the White House and I will walk. I will also keep all the money that I made.

Inside Job was a very hard movie to watch. But first, a very big FVCK YOU to Blockbuster, who refused to carry this movie at their stores because they would rather have you watch the 40 copies of The Muppets. Now, on to the rant...

I'm officially going on-record to state that there is no difference between one party of A-holes and the other party of A-holes. The gist of the documentary is that we are effed as a nation for a very long, long time. It started in the 80's with Reagan and his pals Charles Keating/Alan Greenspan, continued with Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and now with Obama. The banking lobby has crushed this nation and we are powerless to stop them. They've got us so distracted with our smartphones, our gas prices, our American Idol and our joblessness that we cannot & will not force positive change. There's not enough regulation that will right this ship; we are doomed. You see this Richard Fuld and you ask yourself, how is he not in prison? The answer is easy: no one (that matters) wants him in prison.

This movie will make you better informed, smarter, and worth the two hours of your life.

When attempting to be the best shut-in possible, one must have a strict discipline of excellent distractions...

2011-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Honor Roll

1. Person of Interest

2. Luther

3. Sons of Anarchy

4. Breaking Bad

5. Homeland

6. Strike Back

7. Real Time With Bill Maher

Honorable Mention

a. Real Skanks of Beverly Hills

b. Real Implants of Orange County

c. The Walking Dead

For the rest of you that are too afraid to jump outta your mutual funds & directly own your stocks, my personal bets are Verizon and Merck: both pay an excellent dividend as that's what properly managed businesses do, they give back to the shareholders.

Obstruct: to block, impede or interfere...

2011-10-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Our first obstructionist is John "Crybaby" Boehner, the House Republican Majority Leader, who believes that the millionaires need to pay zero taxes, or at least not have their tax loopholes closed. That being said, one of the world's richest men, Warren Buffet, pays less tax than his secretary with the current laws on the books. You know who funds his campaign? Corporations that have zero interest in YOU.

Second, this is Mitch McConnell, he's the Republican Senate Minority Leader. His #1 job is to get rid of the current US President. Nevermind the 14,000,000 people out of work - that's neither his problem nor his voting base. This is why his only mandate is to get Obama out of office. Somehow, this will save America, according to him.

Third is Eric Cantor, and his #1 job right now is to delay the current Obama Jobs Bill. Beholden to lobbyists and corporate interests, he says that he can only push forward what is true to his beliefs. Since when did an elected official decide not to do the job that the voting public put him there to do? His job is not to deliberately delay bills so that they are not voted on, his job is to represent the people of his district, and while he's at it, leave America better than how he found it.

All of this is about America righting itself; this is about returning jobs back to the USA and taxing GE for building planes (thus profit) in China. This is about those "Banksters" who continue to reach into our pockets with their extra corporate $5 monthly fee for using a debit card that they gave us to use. Banks used to make money by loans, now they find every nook & cranny to charge us...just like the phone companies. After starting their occupation in Wall Street, you wanna know why people are occupying US cities all over America? Because the 99% of the people (who are not billionaires) are tired of job insecurity, tired of decreased savings/retirement, tired or not having affordable (not free) healthcare, and very very tired of seeing corporations and Banksters becomes richer & richer while the very foundation of America cracks & becomes weaker. http://weoccupy.com/

Trying to take advantage of local clubs is NOT cool.

2011-09-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

If I was Tony Cruz, I'd try to be more honest in my self-intro speech like this: "Hi, I'm Tony Cruz. I rode with Lance and on the Olympic Team many years ago. I tried to buy a bike shop and that failed, I tried to make bike frames and that failed, I tried to promote bike races and those failed. I came up with a new idea: make a liquid-something-or other for bike riders. I've never done anything for local Long Beach bike clubs like VA or LV, but those club members on those expensive rigs have money & I need money."

It's come to my attention that once again, our favorite guy for forming many local corporations has done it again! Now I'm not sure if the multiple legal entities are Cruz Consulting, Cruz Industries, Cruz & Associates, Cruz Coaching, but I really want to help with the next legal entity formation, so here it goes:

Cruz Constipation Capsules

Cruz Colonics

Cruz Colon Comrades

Cruz Constipation Counteragents

Cruz Pooz Blues

Cruz Poo Poo Pills

Cruz Poos News

Is there anyone out there that can help this guy? It seems that Martin Howard, Al Crawford & Pat West have collectively and completely failed, so it is up to the rest of us to help Cruz succeed with his next endeavor...recently & hence today's entry, source(s) deep within the cycling community have told me that Cruz recently attended a club meeting where he tried desperately to sell his new money venture, snake oil. Now, it's not actually snake oil but sources tell me that he said it cured his wife's IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). Here's my big question: if Tony Cruz is using his wife's IBS 'cure' as a testimonial, then why is he peddling this expensive juice to bike racers??? If Cruz is looking for a Long Beach club with a bunch of wallets, then he already knows to go to Martin Howard, Ryan Autrey, Gil Dodson, and the rest of those members. He can peddle his snake oil to them; oh wait, Cruz already tried to backdoor Turtle by taking the frames to the coffee shop where they hang!

So sensitive & gentle reader, it seems that Mrs. Cruz is definitely & will remain the bread winner while Mr. Tony Cruz hops from one ~~winning~~ business venture to the next! If you happen to see him before he sees you, don't buy the poo-poo juice but instead give him some helpful hints on how to better name his next legal corporation.

Mr. Tony Cruz decided to make an enemy out of me after he threatened me back in 2010, with his anecdote about Frank Andreau and about how Andreau couldn't find a job anywhere because of his big mouth. Tony told me that I should watch out with what I say or else the same thing could happen to me as it happened to Andreau. At the time, Tony Cruz was the LB Bike Ambassador under LB City Manager Pat West, and I told Tony I don't take too kindly to being threatened and until such time that Cruz fixes that, I guess we won't be BFFs anytime soon.

I don't know what the next Tony Cruz business failure will be, maybe it will be bike race promoting...but remember this: he promoted that downtown Long Beach bike race and it disappeared after two years. He also promoted that Long Beach Wednesday night bike race and that disappeared soon after it began! I've been race promoting for over 11 years with over 350+ bike races under my belt, and while that gives me credibility with legit racers, the douchebags in this sport think it's no big deal.

While there is less of me here, there is more of me there.....

2011-08-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

We are a nation of sheep, led by the privatized, corporate shepherd. We go to war based on a lie, the death & injured reported as only numbers on the news, all the while our corrupt government [at the time] censored reporters from taking photos/videos of the caskets coming off the plane. If there's anyone left that has any bone marrow remaining in their spines, then rent The Ground Truth, it was just on Sundance and you can even rent it while watching DirecTV. The way we dumped on our soldiers, from ordering armored vests & treating their amputations to denying their benefits & delaying their paperwork, it's a collective sickening.

Is it any wonder why we have people like Rupert Murdoch at the helm of News Corp, only to see him & his staff of a-holes all experiencing collective amnesia at the same time...and only for no one to do anything about it? Here's how to make a ton of money in the US: 1) form a corporation, 2) cheat, lie, steal to create as much profit from anyone or anything until death or extinction, 3) if caught, tell authorities nothing & that you're too big of a VIP to be aware of details that affect said corporation's profitability, 4) force Board of Directors to give you a huge bonus for having avoided lawsuits and incarceration.....repeat. Did I just not see this exact same thing at the BP oil spill, the finger pointing at Hurricane Katrina, the Exxon Valdez, the Halliburton/Bechtel war profiteering, the mortgage crisis, and the banking collapse? The sad thing is that no one gives a shit. This is all just too commonplace, as the Mtv generation turned into the Ipod generation, so all this static is just tuned out.

Oh no! Another prediction...Blogger to have a lonely funeral!

2011-08-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Bike Racer's comment looks like a typical Al Crawford anonymous post, but it can't be him because he's not a bike racer...he just schleps his sugar momma around the tandem in between his passive aggressive spells...I also noticed that as LB's newest Bike Coordinator, his online resume didn't say anything about him lying to the police up at Solvang, but that's no surprise either.

Now, getting back to Bike Racer's prediction of me having a lonely funeral...really? Who cares? That's your best retort? I'm disappointed at the lack of wit when it comes to making disparaging remarks at me. Whoever you are, please stick to what you're good at: going potty, doing what you're told, and being anonymous...it's very scary to sign your name to what you do not want to own. Go Big or Go Anonymous!

If I wanted a boatload of people at my funeral, then I'd live my life like these butt-sucking idiots that are phony, insincere, and false-flatterers while never making offensive comments to anyone. I don't think that's my lot in life. Besides, you know who's thinking of funerals? Old People! Old people like Luzo, Stryker, Al Crawford, Gil Dodson (the Chronic Taco cyclist who was lucky enough to give Steve Hegg a job!), and Ryan Autrey...those are the old people who should be thinking those thoughts. Me? I'm too busy making friends in hopes that they make buttons, bumper stickers and t-shirts to sell at my funeral.

What better way to make cyclists feel good about Long Beach as a cycling community by insulting them?

2011-08-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here are the two buttons that are simultaneously distributed by those under the direction of Al Crawford, Martin Howard & Luciano Gonzales (look up website, scroll to board of directors). Now, I don't mind strangers & passers-by to receive a button that shows bikeable communities, safety & access. But what I do mind is that a clique-ish bunch of elitists passing out buttons to people and telling them that they are "weak." It's insulting, degrading, and quite frankly-these buttons come from a group of non-racers that think of themselves as so elite that they can mock other riders, strangers passing thru Long Beach, no less!

Now this "you're weak" started many moons ago as a quote from Martin Howard to those that rode alongside him. I'm sure that the riders of the clique don't mind it, but Mr. Howard fails to understand that other bike riders that are not part of his tribe may take offense to having such a button shoved in their hands as they are trying to ride the Long beach portion of PCH.

It's bad enough that this is something that Mr. Mark Bixby would have never signed his name to, but those 3 (Al, Martin & Luciano) remind me more of The Three Stooges in the way that they are trying to carry on the legacy of Mr. Bixby. What Martin Howard should have done is ask Mark Bixby's widow if the "You're Weak" button would be something that Mark Bixby would be proud of. I'm not so sure. In any event, if you feel like owning a button that tells you that "you're weak," just ride thru Long Beach and look for the La Habra Cyclery/Chronic Taco cycling jerseys...I hear they're handing them out like candy.

Stock market drops -512 points in one day, and tea-baggers cry about trying to tax corporate jets...

2011-08-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, this is one of my favorite pics found on that damn internet. It's amazing how much crap is so quickly forgotten. For 10 years, TEN (8 with Bush + 2 with Obama), the taxes have been the lowest in history. For ten years, the super-wealthy rec'd their tax cuts while they jerked us off to the "trickle effect" of job creation. Well, for ten years, we got the rub & tug with no happy ending. Instead, what we got was the worst recession since the Great Depression, a very-soon 2nd (double dip) recession, a housing market still in the toilet, not one banker has gone to jail after the almost trillion-dollar bailout, and the super wealthy NEVER created all those promised jobs.

You know what they did with their tax cuts? That's right, they kept them. That's what the super wealthy do, they hoard like misers, and like the Ruport Murdochs of the world, they will die rich and bat shit. Do you need the list of bat shit crazies with money? Michael Jackson, Howard Hughes, & Hetti Green. So, if you have personality disorders and you have a lot of money, you'll typically do the opposite of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, etc. 99.9% of us will never know that feeling, so when the Commander-in-Chief tries to tax something really, really small like private corporate jets and can't, then it's no wonder the stock market drops 500+ points in a day.

In other news, this guy nicknamed 'banana dick' recently suffered a setback. His baby's momma was busted in a LB parking lot for selling pot with intent to distribute! On a previous occasion, this same drug dealer laughed as her dog mauled & almost killed another dog, and the only reason you're reading this is that the guy was the former head of a local cycling club!

Go Big or Go With A National Airline Carrier That Conducts Mandated Safety Checks & Won't Outsource Safety To The Lowest Bidder!

Everything to get you to join their membership, and then the honeymoon's over.....

2011-07-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I most dislike about corporations; at the beginning, they "wow" you with every reason why you should join. Then, after they gotcha, they slowly begin to take away the benefits they offered you in the first place. Not only do I get the hand job without the happy ending, but then they have the audacity to "LLC" everything, meaning that there is no 'head' of anything, just a bunch of corporate imbeciles looking to pass the buck. When things go bad, and they do, it's always somebody else's fault, and not one swinging d*ck owns anything because it's just another headless "LLC" in the corporate world of no one's really legally responsible. I(f I could just get to the shot caller, then I could communicate my concerns, but there is no shot caller when concerns are voiced, only when there are atta-boys.

At least at my races, people can complain and yell at my face, and maybe things will not resolve the way the racers want them to, but at least everyone can point the finger to the fat guy.

This is what McDonalds coffee does to an elderly woman's inner thighs, even after 700+ victims were burned by their coffee

2011-07-14T05:00:00.001-07:00

Seeing this on TV sickened me, and I'm not talking about the scars....I'm talking about the way McDonald's handled this. Third degree burns from coffee. A corporation, once again, choosing profits over people. But don't worry, gentle & sensitive reader. There are other more pressing issues than hot coffee.

Corporations' phone hacking
In the 'no kidding' dept., we have News Corp./Fox News hacking into the phones of thousands of people, paying off cops, hospitals, and anything else in hopes of reporting dirt on those who make news. This is huge, not in America, but this should alarm each & every one of you. How many other news agencies are doing what News Corp. did? How prevalent is this in the USA? What are we going to do about this if it has happened? I know that in this time of Facebook, where one's menstrual cycle & nocturnal emissions are reported hourly, very little privacy remains. If I want someone listening to my voicemails, then I'll post my PIN number. Until then, my baby momma's bitching to me about delayed child support for all of my kids (that you do not know about) needs to stay private.

Corporations & republicans effing the average American
I wish I could claim that this idea was mine, but I took it from another. The current theory is this: Corporations are refusing to hire workers; they are intentionally keeping the unemployment rate high so that the republicans can take the White House in 2012. They want to blame Obama for all of the financial woes they created from 2000 to 2008, and if the corporations can just do their part for the republicans and not hire anyone, then it all looks like Obama's fault. All I will say is this: do not become another dumb, drooling idiot. Do not forget what Wall St. did to Main St., what happens when corporations regulate themselves, and what happens when defense-budget cronies blame 9/11 on Sadam.

Last but not least
In a bike race, there are those who have good & bad reputations, it doesn't matter: you never, NEVER overlap a wheel. If you do, you will crash. I know that during the Tour de France, everyone got the fever of doing "snakes," and riding like they're in the Tour. As you have seen, pros crash all the time, and they're good at what they do. When someone cuts you off in traffic, it's the same in a bike race: they swoop over your wheel & now you got three choices. You can yield and not have your front quarter panel wrecked, you can let them hit you, or you can speed up so your wheel has no chance of being overlapped. Holding your ground at current pace is what I call being 'dead right.' You stand your ground because you possess the lane, the a-hole still gonna crash you because of his speed & direction. But if you yield, you stay upright. Overlapped wheels are the same as a rear-end collision, and that means the rearward person's at fault. You cannot win, ever, if you are at the 1st aid tent with 3 laps to go.

Please be safe, and allow these words to deeply sink into your bones, because what I type really, really matters.

Fat + chainring tattoo on fat arm + non-racer = heart attack

2011-06-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

Please please please...if you know of someone who doesn't race bicycles and whose biceps are as large as their waistline, do not let them get any form of a bicycle "chainring" tattoo, especially if they don't race bicycles! Unfortunately, when bad choices are made, bad stuff follows. Hopefully his doctor or teammates will tell him that he's not really a bike racer and hard-core intervals are for races, not training. In preventing future heart attacks, all rubenesque bike riders should start with a doctor's approval. 14mph, max. Let's be careful out there.

Here's the latest...thanks to SHO-AIR and US Cup!

2011-06-20T05:00:00.001-07:00

The people that matter in cycling are those that can devote time, product or money - that's it, it's pretty simple. SHO-AIR and US Cup donated cash to Eldo to pass along to the racers in the P/1/2/3 category as follows:

Prime 1 - $50

Prime 2 - $50

Most Aggressive - $50

Race Winner - $125

I already have a plan for identifying the Most Aggressive...that means the person who initiates breakaways and separations from the group...not chasers. Attackers (initiators) are OFFENSE and chasers (reacting) are DEFENSE. I really appreciate the help CBR receives in boomeranging & awarding a "job well done" back to the local racer.

You will never see me or CBR takes a 10% finder's fee, processing fee or any other bullshit fee when people decide to give to the local racer....it's 100% for the locals. I know my critics will still hate on me but at the end of the day, the recent $3,000+ ($275 x 11 more Eldos) speaks for itself.

In America, you are no longer allowed to have an opinion about anything, so don't (even) think about being in a disagreement...

2011-06-14T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm going to say some cold, hard truths that may offend the weak. The WEAK will have two choices: either cry like little babies or suck it up & push through the pain, real or perceived, physical or mental. If there are 100 bike racers in your crit category, then only the top-6 are going to get upgrade points. The other 94 racers just got schooled in how NOT to do it. If you find yourself just sucking in the regular season and not getting the points you're desperately wanting, then you are riding the failboat and your best bet is to abandon ship.

You "abandon ship" by throwing out what is not working, and what isn't working is your last 6 months of crappy results. You don't train for a crit by riding 120 miles down the coast, you don't train for a hilly road race by doing a 30-min flat crit. For those 94 racers that failed to get upgrade points day in and day out, month in and month out...instead of eating all that money in wasted entry fees, you might, you just might want to consider hiring Michael Johnson, or "MJ" as his friends call him. He's not cheap but you get results: real results when you do what he tells you to do. Include him into your fiscal bike racing budget. As soon as I drop to 199lbs, I'm gonna hire him - but right now he just laughs at me because I'm not as serious about bike racing as I am about eating a bag of Funyons.

The point is this: you suck as a racer or else you would be a USCF Cat. 1, and no one cares about your excuses. Kids, job, mortgage, blah blah blah. Sponsors want USCF Cat. 1s, so either get the fvcking job done or get out. If you are OK with being a permanent Cat 4 or 3 or 2, then that's fine: this is a hobby and it don't pay the bills or keep a marriage intact. For all the others chasing upgrade points, start doing it with your legs. Figure it out and stop putting the square peg in the round hole...there are enough dumb racers out there, don't be one of them.

yuk

2011-06-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Here's the good news: by 2050 there will be 9 billion people on the planet but the same amount of real estate (earth). At our current rate of making species extinct, the only food available to eat will be poor people. Poor people, in an effort to make money, will procreate more often in hopes of producing food products for those that can afford it. When I say 'poor,' I mean those that work. For the little brains, that means those that have been historically & generationally outside the gates of the DuPonts, the Vanderbilts, the Chandlers, the Gettys, the Rockefellers, etc.

That means 99% of the population, which means YOU. Once the mega-rich figure out this gold nugget, they will amass enough farm animals and un-genetically modified (Monsanto) food behind very thick and weaponized walls to procreate future generations of power-keepers. Right now, they're only thinking of themselves in their gated compounds, very small thinking...once it dawns on them to have the grocery store inside the gates, you'll see a change in gated landscape architecture...just like the good 'ol 1700s but without the IEDs.

On January 10, 2010 the US Supreme Court effed all of us. Corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money on political candidates. WHAT THIS REALLY MEANS. Statistically, the person who spends the most amount of money on a campaign wins 90% of the time, so where will the money come from and who can afford it? Corporations, the same corporations that squeeze every last ounce of profit from any source (animal, plant, employee, etc.) until extinction, exhaustion, or death. Watch the HBO movie Too Big To Fail, or better yet, read the fvcking book.

Money-grubbing fvcks built the house of cards, let it fall, then held a gun to America's head and demanded billions OR ELSE. Had there been no bailout, you would have seen a collapse that would have made the 1929 Depression look like Clinton's GNP surplus. Government must operate businesses that are not supposed to turn a profit, like the justice system, the health care system, the legislation system, etc...get it? I don't need some *sshole businessman like Meg Whitman in government, touting her business resume as justification to be a government leader, because governments are not supposed to be run like private businesses, and We The People, are expected to know the difference.

Just informed about trash-talking CBR due to dopers....

2011-05-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

www.cyclingnews.com

forum---thread---an admission

Here it discusses dopers and subsequently, CBR.

Joe Papp's comments about CBR are irrelevant. Not only are dopers very stupid cheaters, but most share a common denominator of failed marriages and latch-key kids. In my opinion, the best thing for the children of dopers is for the ex-wife to re-marry and have the stepfather pursue vigorous legal action against dopers & adopt the children. Dopers are cheaters and liars at heart, and this is a character trait, not a 1-time fluke.

Despite CBR's lifetime ban on dopers, there's the possibility of dopers re-entering CBR races. One doper lies to my face instead of being a man. The other doper uses his teammates to attempt to bully me. Both continue to focus on their own selfish agenda rather than focus on a solution...this is what makes them very stupid; always trying to fit the circle in the square.

Last, if I was such an insufferable A-hole to a race promoter, then that promoter can go tell me to pound sand. The promoter reserves the right to refuse service, and the USCF has no jurisdiction in this arena. If the A-holes think that they can just register for my races just because it's a USCF race - they are wrong, and I'm just the guy to dance with.

Week in review: christians, Gov. Gropenator & 50 meetings/3 days

2011-05-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you are a christian & celebrated Osama Bin Laden's death-then you are not a christian; you are just an idiot, a dolt, a moron. This is a special shout-out to people who claim that they follow the good book, but in fact, are just taking up space, bumbling along as they go. What caliber bullet would Jesus use for Osama? Who would Jesus bomb? According to the story, Jesus loved & forgave enemies, and it stands to reason that if you are a follower of him, then you are expected to do likewise. I am not a christian, I don't practice speaking out of both sides of my mouth, and I certainly don't preach one thing and do the complete opposite. I am very happy that OBL/one less p.o.s. (piece of sh*t) is not walking the planet. I don't forgive my enemies, and I don't believe that every human life has value.

Republican family values tour: LA Times reports that Gov. Doper/Gropenator fathered a kid from his housemaid about ten years ago. It looks like Maria has had about enough of his shenanigans, so she's out. He can go back to doing what he does best: fondling women without their consent. He made a complete mess of the state of California while he was in charge, and as Californians, we deserve exactly what we voted for...twice. in related news, now that The Donald pulled his name out of the hat, Newt Gingrich looks to be the best conservative right-winger for 2012: three marriages with the combo of being blown in the limo for six years by the mistress (now his 3rd wife) during his 2nd marriage. This should sit very well with the religious hypocrites/whack jobs/promise keepers (see above).

And finally, in cycling news...one of the mouthpieces for the Tour of California reported that there were 50 meetings held in 3 days before they decided to cancel Stage 1. By my math, that's about 1 meeting every 86.4 minutes. This must have been a wet dream for people that love meetings-to have so many meetings! Next year, the ToC should start at the tippy-top of Mt. Whitney so there is no doubt as to what kind of weather they will have. Why do the meetings-wizards always have it start in NorCal? At the next meeting, try July or August, or take a page from the Tour Du Pont...

Race re-cap: good, bad & ugly

2011-05-09T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Good

We had many volunteers who stepped up and made this race happen, and I am so thankful for my volunteers. I'm also very thankful for the women that allow their men to play at my races...thank you. Jo-jo from NOW energy was so helpful & so wicked cool to hang with, and it's these people that make the race, not me, I just assemble them together. Yesterday was light 'cuz of Mother's Day, and I appreciate everyone that took time out of their day & money out of their wallet to support this event. I'm already working on 2012 to be better than 2011, and for those that have supported what I'm doing-thank you!

The Bad

#1) Someone raced their ass off only to have a heart attack later. So far, he's doing OK. Shortness of breath, chest pains-do not ignore. LASD, who I adore & love, called paramedics who then took him to the hospital where he had his attack.

#2) Crashes here are there, mainly collarbones. These bones heal quickly, so all is not lost. Keep things in perspective: one's health & happiness...i.e., you're not dead & dying.

#3) {this is my favorite} It's always the tadpoles crying about the sharks, and you never see the sharks crying about the tadpoles...you know why? 'cuz tadpoles never get in the way, 'cuz they tadpoles! Time & time again I pontificate about the bike race Food Chain...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Pro. If you a Cat. 2 trying to take the wheel of a Cat. 1, then don't cry when things don't go your way. The crybabies always cry up the food chain, but they never cry down the food chain-wonder why?

The Ugly

#1) When an official tells you that you are pulled from the race, you listen to the official, or Hell will reign down upon you. Only out of respect for the officials, who asked that I not bounce him, did they allow the pulled rider to finish up. He was not scored and he will be receiving a Warning Letter.

#2) When you use your fist at a bike race to punch someone, you could end up in bracelets, in jail, your bike impounded and your car towed. The victim of the assault decided not to press charges but did want the guy bounced in the P/1/2, and that's what happened. He too, will be receiving a Warning Letter.

This week in review: weakness, gouging & Trumped

2011-05-03T05:00:00.000-07:00

WEAKNESS:

After many weeks of gaining weight, I have finally managed to throw out my lower back. It's amazing what an adipose/50lb weight plate can do to a lower back when consistently placed in the front abdominal section. Obviously, I am not serious about racing, so I will try and correct that. Plan to see more training and less racing from fatso.

GOUGING:

American corporations Exxon & Chevron are making billions in quarterly profits while we are getting pumped at the pump. Some say that the run-up at the pump is a consolidated, corporate move to piss off Americans so companies like Exxon & Chevron can run ads blaming Obama & fill the republican coffers for the 2012 presidential election. Kinda early for screwing the average Schmo that's gotta drive to work, but it just goes to show how bad that corporations do not want Obama re-elected. Try to connect that those in power, the corporations that lobby their profit-driven interests & not your interests, need to find a puppet that will serve their needs: billions in profit to them and no taxes to pay for education, roads & the elderly. Corporations like GE, Exxon, Chevron don't want to pay taxes, and they need Senators, Congressmen & Presidents that will do their bidding, not yours.

TRUMPED:

Donald Trump wants to be president; I can only pray that he wants Palin as his vp, as that would be the best republican ticket in generations. After the whole 'birthing' issue that Trumped raised and Obama finally shut up the mouths of those idiots, Obama called Trump a "Carnival Barker," and for those that do not know the term - that's the guy at the carnival trying to get you to buy tickets to see the bearded lady. Trump also pontificated that we was a friend of "the Blacks." WTF? Bill Maher of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher said something very interesting: not all republicans are racists, but all racists are republicans. Are there any racist democrats out there???

The week in review: Big Brother phones, expensive imperialist USA and corporate America's biggest hand-job....

2011-04-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Big Brother Phones:

Corporations, in another attempt to screw over the very customers it needs for their SEC filings, have kept it a secret in having phones track the whereabouts of their owners. iPhone & Android are now doing damage control. They way it works is this: the phones constantly seek out wi-fi hotspots and by locations do they locate YOU. I didn't want to be a part of the Tinfoil Hat club, but it seems that the only way to make sure that phone doesn't broadcast your whereabouts (without your permission) is to remove the battery.

Expensive, Imperialist USA:

In the federal budget-no one touches the "2 insurance companies & the army," meaning Social Security, Medicare & Defense. While this means nothing to today's 20-somethings, they'll be paying for it soon enough. We also need to get ourselves out of two wars (Iraq & Afganistan), we need to remove our 100,000+ soldiers from Korea, Japan & Germany. Those wars have already been fought and we no longer need to occupy Korea, Japan & Germany. It's 2011, not 1944.

Corporate America's Biggest Hand-Job:

Are we stupid? Are we this stupid in allowing this to continue? Corporations cry that cutting tax rates creates jobs. What a bunch of horseshit. General Electric, the biggest corporation we have, made $14 BILLION in profits and paid ZERO taxes. Sign me up for that deal. Was it really that bad in the 1950s where corporations made money, paid taxes, and their employees had vacations, homes, money for kids' college, etc. and our bridges, highways & sewage systems weren't such a poor reflection of our fiscal/budgetary mismanagement?

Now that Glenn Beck is no longer with Fox News, who will speak for the lunatics?...

2011-04-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

It appears that there is one religion where you burn their book, they will kill you. Now that's a religion of tolerance. Speaking of tolerance...

It also appears that when you ban a charming doper (Hegg) from the sport, the team (La Habra Cyclery (LHC)) that spent money on said doper (Hegg) will boycott race promoter (me). One cannot write what I write and say what I say without making other people mad. If you asked those people, they would not say that I am a charming person. What you see is what you get; I am nice to those that deserve & have earned it. I don't really know what a former doper brings to this sport or to LHC.

I do know this; there are those that want to be associated with a former olympic gold medalist, despite any & all drug use. This is what's peculiar about our sport. I don't think there's the occasion where a gold medalist in bowling or biathlon or synchronized swimming is surrounded by rich, old people to the extent that it is done with Hegg. Is it this way with Tyler Hamilton? 20 years after Tyler won his gold, will there be some rich, old guy that wants him in their kit? I'm trying to understand the psychology of it.

The sad thing is that Hegg could have petitioned the CBR board to be re-instated to race. He never asked, never explained his side of the story, and very sadly-he picked the wrong people to champion his cause. The former US Marine would have gladly listened to the former Navy SEAL, instead of a couple fools (Luzo, Turtle) that do not understand how the real world works. Out of all the people that Hegg could have gone to, he should have gone to the seal, but that's indicative of his problem-solving abilities.

Let this be a lesson to all dopers and/or problem children wanting to return to this sport. If you want back in, there's a right way to do things and there's a wrong way to do things. Hegg not only used the wrong tool for the wrong job, but he wasn't smart enough to keep it in-house and behind the curtain.

This week's highlights: doper's attempt to race, Al & Laura-broke cheapskates & LA Circuit race promoted well.

2011-04-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

1) Steve Hegg, longtime cyclist & ex-doper, currently racing for Chronic ~~Dopers~~ Tacos, attempted to race El Dorado last Tuesday. Even after acknowledging his ban from CBR races, he intentionally trespassed onto the course and ignored directives from the Chief Official to exit the course. Apparently, the shot-caller on that team forces everyone to wear the same socks and blows a gasket if one refers to the team as the Pink Tacos, but trespassing and ignoring bike race officials is A-OK. Never in the history of CBR has anyone blatantly ignored a bike racing official, but if people take short-cuts in life, like doping to finish first, then don't expect them to respect officials....Will the Pink Tacos put Tyler Hamilton in one of their jerseys soon? Maybe Hegg & Hamilton can host a seminar about taking drugs, cheating & beating the system in bike race testing? Since Hegg is virtually unemployable, one of the Pink Tacos, Gil Dodson who owns Corridor Recycling (I think) and got Hegg a job. With Hegg's background in short-cutting results & cheating, I think he'll make a fine employee.

2) Al Crawford & Laura Lingren ride a Calfee carbon tandem, not exactly a cheap piece of equipment. They also belong to the Chronically Depressed/Pink Taco team but are not allowed to ride the tandem on that ride, so they save their death-defying bike handling skillz for the Velo Allegro Saturday ride (anytime they wanna take their circus act back to the Chronic Whiner club ride, they can!). Al's a retired corporate type from Unocal & Laura's an attorney, presumably the one who represented Al when he gave false information to the police at Solvang awhile back. Anyway, you would think that they would buy a seatpost strong enough to support Laura's weight, but lo & behold, the tandem pulled over because of a broken seatpost. Here's my thing: if you can afford a Calfee carbon tandem, then spend then extra dollar on a good seatpost, at least one that can support Laura's weight, that's all I'm saying.

3) Brad House put on a good show Sunday. I was only bummed that the P/1/2 wasn't 80 miles like previous years. Extra toilet paper was in the porta potties, everyone was pleasant, and the people at registration knew what they were doing! Some of you out there think that I hate on anything that isn't CBR and that's not true. I love bike racing, I love good bike race promoters, and I love good bike racing officials. While my body was extremely outta shape, I still had a good time at the races. I have comes to terms with this: if I owned a Red Lobster, then should I be upset when my Red Lobster customers go to Macaroni Grill, even if my Red Lobster is open? Heck no! You guys & gals can come to my Red Lobster whenever you want to, I know I don't want to eat Red Lobster every day of the week! The only thing I ask is that you don't dope and that you don't cross me...stay away if you do either of the two! Enjoy!

04/10/11 race re-cap...

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

Some things were good and some things are gonna be changed....1st, the changes via anecdote! I'm a very safe driver at 80mph, but unfortunately, there are those drivers who cannot handle responsible driving at 80mph. There are so many problem drivers at that speed that governments enact laws that keep the speed at a reasonable compromise: 65mph. In effect, it is those drivers that have screwed up our driving at 80mph. We've become a nation of Stop Signs at every corner because so many people don't understand Right-Of-Way & common courtesy to other drivers. In effect, this is what's happened to our Cat 5s and Cat. 4s at CBR. There are so few of them now that we are combining the categories for the rest of the season. It's a real shame because the ones that failed to appear have ruined it for those that did. Apparently, USA Cycling thinks it's a benefit to have only their cycling body in this country and those racers think the same.

I'm bringing back the 40+ IV/V category in hopes that those masters will either race extra races or keep the older Master novices at CBR. As long as the Cat. 3s continue to support CBR, they will not be absorbed into the P/1/2s-it all depends upon support levels. With the exception of the crashes, the race went well. The crashes were lame...too much negative racing (instead of doing one's own racing, negative racers have their head on a swivel, looking for other racers to do initiate attacks & thus waste their time not attacking, sitting in & clogging the front).

I'm very happy that our sponsors and volunteers continue to support local racing, and I also want to give big shout outs to those (TR+PS) that raced Bakersfield on Saturday, drove home to San Diego area, only to make the drive back up to Dominguez on Sunday-even tho' there was a USUC race in your backyard. I really appreciate the loyalty & dedication, and I hope to have made it worth your while. I'm not always gonna take the advice given to me, but (at least) you know that at any time, you can come up to me have have your voice heard. If I hear enuff of the same thing, then the majority rules and changes are made! :)

While the pussification of racers & men continue, it's sad to say that the only object that enjoys pressure is coal...

2011-04-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

If you cannot have your "team" accomplish the simplest of tasks on a Tuesday race, then what in the heck makes you think that it will be accomplished in a Sunday crit when $1,000 bucks is on the line? Simply put, if you cannot assemble the team in a low-pressure setting, then don't even think about cracking the podium in a high-pressure setting...go back to the minor leagues, or try & start racing no-money crits in The Sticks if So Cal's too fast.

I say this because there are stupid, very stupid people out there that think I wear the 'race promoter' hat all the time, and that whenever I talk to these dumbasses, that I am talking to them as a race promoter. Unless I'm promoting the race in real time, or I'm talking about a race I'm promoting-that's the only time I wear the hat. Most often, when I call someone out because they are either stupid, reckless, or just a horse's ass-I'm wearing my hat, the Christopher hat.

That hat is comprised of my past experiences, drawn from the USMC, Army-OCS, the US Border Patrol as well as life on the road for the last 26 years that has a combination of street & book smarts. This hat also has a very low tolerance for bullshit, and if you are some snobby a-hole, if you are some jerk that thinks your poop smells like roses while everyone else's smells horrible, then I will go out of my way to "play" with you.

Now, some morons get all buttsore and become confused which hat I wear when this happens, so I want to clear this up. The promoter hat is rarely worn because I really like to wear my own hat. If you are a kind and decent person, then I will never have a quarrel with you. So please choose: you can either be a jerk who chops wheels in bike races and they also do in life, or you can choose to be better than that. Either way, I will do my best to accommodate.

How did we go from three, FULL Cat. 5 fields in December to only seventeen Cat. 5s in March???

2011-04-04T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is how it plays: as a race promoter, I eliminate categories that cannot sustain themselves. You're starting to see $30 entry fees for 30 minutes & $30 prizes. Costs are going up everywhere and pretty soon, the only racers that will upgrade will be the ones who can afford it. The Tuesday races in Nor Cal are $15, plus an extra $10 for 1-day USCF license, and that's for 40 minutes of racing on a Tuesday. April 10th will be CBR's crit in Dominguez Hills, and I'm waiting to release the May 8th race flyer because I may need to combine the Cat. 4s and 5s as well as the P/1/2s with the Cat. 3s. I'm not worried about the Masters because they are the ones that keep me promoting. The women have already been combined into one big group...despite what you think, bike racing is dwindling: no young 'ins are coming up thru the ranks-parents don't want their precious children getting hit by texting soccer moms when the parents can easily monitor Little Johnny at the house with their texting, FBing, and their Nintendo. Racers that are left are just getting older. If the racers do not support the sport, then you will eventually have 10 bike races in a season, and no one will get in because the fields will be all full, then comes the jacking of the entry fees...anyone understand the concept of a monopoly????

On an unrelated note, an unnamed racer (arrogant noob who races on the only team that will have him and cannot get a real job unless daddy's involved) is all buttsore at me because I told him where he could go after he cried like a little baby for not posting results within seconds of the unofficial to official conversion (emphasis added). I see this as a problem in society overall, and that is this: young people want everything now, right this second. Life don't play that way, and the biggest skill these noobs need to learn is patience. When I raced my 1st race in '87, I waited 2 months to see it in the local racing paper; there was no computer, internet or facebook. You could take a picture of the results, but no one ever thought of doing that & if they did, you still had to go to the Kodak kiosk and get them developed. I know some of this sounds foreign to the noobs (no internet, no computers, newspapers, film camera developing time lags), but the earth actually rotates on its axis in real time and not in internet time.

I doubt that this noob will ever promote a race because he ain't gonna leave the teet that daddy lets him suckle, and bike race promoting ain't instantaneous. Einstein is quoted as saying that time exists because not everything can happen at once.

Just a couple of quick things from the chief A-hole.....

2011-03-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

#1) For all you wealthy 'tards that think you can buy your way outta earth's troubles: while you can purchase bottled water, you cannot purchase bottled air and bottled topsoil. Until you die (like the rest of us), you will need to breathe the same air the proletarians breathe as well as eat the same Monsanto genetically-modified food we eat while our topsoil continues to erode. I suggest that you have a staff meeting with your other wealthy counterparts and fix this because the poor people cannot fix it...

#2) While I would love to grow the sport, I cannot do it without the help of those with a lot of influence...mainly the 'tards at USCF. While they insist on driving this sport into the ground, other areas like the Fondos, the Tour de Cure, AIDS ride & the like continue to thrive. Why is it that fun rides are prospering and bike racing is shrinking? Wait for USUC's 2010 report...

#3) It seems that every b-hole on the planet thinks that they are entitled/deserve to be on American Idol & really, really, really famous with not having to work for it. A study done decades ago showed that 12% of high school seniors rated themselves as "I am a very important person." Fast forward to right now, and the same study jumped to 80%. Everyone is drinking the same, 'tarded Kool-Aid.

80% of the population is not "a very important person," and to prove my point, Newsweek recently came out with an article explaining how America's becoming dumber (and more arrogant in their dumbness). Do no fall into this trap: if you are reading this, then you are an idiot (I've read it several dozen times because I am very, very stupid). You are not curing cancer, you are not the Leader of the Free World, and you have not fed all of the starving people on this planet. Learn to be humble (look it up, stoopid), acquire more knowledge, and apply that knowledge for the benefit of the group and not just yourself.

If you are a very dumb person, then you will be offended by this post. Try not to crash out of your 30th Cat. 5 race. Good luck in surviving Darwinism.

Rants of an insane bike race promoter....

2011-03-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

#1) Keep your hands on the bars while racing whether you're a Cat. 1 or 5...one guy won a prime then took hands off bars & turned to give invisible teammate 2 thumbs up. That will get you fined, DQ'd or both.

#2) If you know that the racer in front of you is a dick and you know he will take you to the curb or cones, then do not overlap his wheel on cone-side/curb-side, especially if you know that he'll shift at the last millisecond and crash you in the process. This one b-hole did it to his own brother-in-law at a crit years ago.

#3) At every bike race, fill out the emergency contact info legibly. For all you idiot smart-asses that put '911' or 'God,' you are jackasses. A good & safe racer went to the hospital because of some other jackass. Thank goodness he filled out the form. And by the way, a very f*cking HUGE THANK YOU to William Carvin, who went to the hospital in hopes of trying to find out where the racer's hide-a-key was hidden on his vehicle...and that brings me to my next rave (not a rant).

#4) Zac Houghton gets it, and he's from Oregon & knows Candi and Mike Murray (http://www.obra.org). The So Cal bike racing community is a family, and I would no more try to crash a racer than fly to the moon. Anyone who wins a bike race like that is a dick. You win it clean and with your legs & you win it with your hands on the bars. This is the same community that Susanne Sonye considers her family and by default definition, I and many others are in this same family. You wanna be a dirty little shit, then I'm sure Eric Smith at USCF will find a USA Cycling number for you. I won't.

#5) The race at the new course went very well and I rec'd nothing but love on the course. The next time we play there, Dominguez WEST, will be Mother's Day. Please start talking up the wives & girlfriends who are baby-mommas that you want to race and will do ANYTHING FOR THEM if they give you permission to race on Mother's Day. Gift Cards, Dinners, Flowers, goin South of the Border...whatever it takes to race! Thanks to all the volunteers & racers in making this a success!!!

CBR has a new course: Dominguez WEST, west of Wilmington about 300m away from the old course, Dominguez EAST (east of Wilmington)

2011-02-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

Some of you already know where the course is because that's where you warm up! Kevin P., Chris D., and the rest: I have listened and responded...Here you go, Dominguez WEST. This is the course that will be used for the odd-numbered months 03/13, 05/08, 07/10 & 09/11) while the old course will mainly use the even numbered months (04/10, 05/30, 06/12, 08/28). We hope to see you there!

2/20/11 race re-cap and March 6th & 13th race...

2011-02-21T09:40:00.001-08:00

So listening to rain at 4am does not bode well for a happy bike race promoter at 4:30am. Rain insurance would have cost about $3k and that was coin I didn't have. I don't do too well with nail-biting events...oh who am I kidding...I don't do too well with anything, just ask anyone who's been blogged about.

Brian Sullivan, who just had a kid, drove to the course at 5am just to help me set up and then he had to drive back to his newest family edition at home....who does this?? This is EXACTLY the kinda stuff that makes me love promoting. I cannot do this alone, and I utterly depend upon the kindness of those that help me promote a bike race. I appreciate all of the people that took time out of their day to show me some love and I only wish I had the $15,000+ to continue promoting CBR events all the way until September...no worries, either way!

Everyone had fun and I made some command decisions to have a few racers on upgrade probation & put them in categories one notch up...no issues at all. This is what a bike racing assn. director needs to do: racers want to upgrade, express their desire to bump up & I can have them in the back of the field and observe their ability to handle the speed, intensity & bike handling. It comes back to having personal relationships with the locals, and it is these locals that support what I'm doing with this sport. We'll have our next BAR Series in Long Beach (Hughes Park locale) on March 6th where I'll be officiating & racing; after that, it's back to Dominguez Hills (I know, I'm working on different courses...three different ones, to be exact) on March 13th (R-hand turns).

That being said, a few commented on the ToM omnium where racers voiced why pay $100 to race 3 races (TT, Crit, Circuit) & hotel/restaurants when $43 pays for 3 crits (40+, 30+, Pro/1/2) in one shot....and by the way, the ToM Cat. 2 crit last 55 minutes, so it doesn't qualify towards a Cat. 1 upgrade (see USCF rulebook on time/upgrade). This is the complete spirit of America: racers have a choice and are not forced to only have it one-way. Whatever's decided, go and have fun at DH or ToM...this is just a hobby for 99% of us! Return home safe on Sunday night.

I'm very happy that I had time to speak with Kurt, Louise, Phil, Bahati, Palmer, JoJo, and about a dozen others! Officially, I got 30th in the 40+ and dropped out of the Pro/1/2, and that means I have miles to go before I sleep. Thanks again for coming out to play, and results & BAR Series should be up sometime before March 6th!

BAR Series #1 posted for 2011

2011-02-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

here it is... read it & weep if you not trainin' and you not ownin' a CBR membership...jersey & $400 racing shoes to the winners! I'll see the racers in about 12 hours for BAR Series #2!

Current laundry.....

2011-02-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

1) BAR Series results will be up in time before February 20th bike race. Results have never been my thing, and in a way, this is a reason why CBR races will go to USCF...probably starting in June....the Memorial Day Race will most likely be the CBR state champs with the 55+/60+/65+/70+ being one category but separate jerseys for all those old people! :)

2) There's a flip side to less drama on the blog...posts of rants will be much more boring as they will be limited in quality & quantity. It seems that the future is filled will people who are actively seeking to be easily offended, so I'm a gonna train, race & promote...that being said, I'm racing Saturday then Sunday, which means all my to-do list gotta get done by Friday: don't even think of calling, just text if you need me.

3) Here are the possible USCF categories for my June, July, August, September races...in the order of start, 11 categories, timed per USCF rules:

5A, W4, 5B, 55/60+, 4/5, 2/3, 45+, W1-3, 35+, 3/4, P/1/2

This will be mainly about upgrading, as a 5, 4, 3 or 2. These cats. will have more than 1 race to enter, So Cal Cup be damned! Unless there's a bunch of bitching about these categories, then this is how it will play. CBR's funds will run out by May because we have so few members this year.

4) I want to thank DeMarchi, Kevin Phillips, Bob Pelkofer, and Kal for giving me much-needed input at the Brea race. You are the racers I serve, and I listen to you. While the changes may not take place in the time desired, I will do what I can to serve the racing community in the best way I can.

Racers race and trainers train, and guys- leave the comments about clothing to the girls (unless you are PAYING them to wear your latest design)...

2011-02-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Never in my life have I ever trained for a training ride; I train for races-that's who I am and that's what I do. Never in my life have I ever dictated that CBR racers wear certain arm warmers, certain, gloves, certain socks, and certain jerseys on training rides....hell's bells, I'm just happy they wearin' my kit! There is an unspoken hierarchy in bicycle racing: there are those who are given jerseys and there are those who must pay for jerseys.

Cyclists are fiercely independent, and they embody the American spirit. Someone once told me that the difference between an Englishman and American is that an Englishman walks around like he owns the ground beneath him, whereas an American walks around not giving a fvck who owns the ground beneath him. How many times have we seen cyclists branch off and do it their way the minute they don't like how it's being done? How many teams form, per year, because someone gets a wild hair up their kazoo and says "I can do it my way."

My thing is this: unless you are being paid to wear my kit, to include socks, jocks, arm warmers, headbands, etc., then it is completely out of line for another man (sorta me) to comment upon what another man wears for a training ride! I get bent out of shape when soldiers die for oil or when corporations put profits over people, I do not get bent out of shape when Wiz wears his Canada headband.

Today, I will get my ass handed to me at the Brea crit, promoted by Ed Keck & Velo Avanti. It's gotta hill in it, so today will be spent suffering until the officials yank me off the course.

Mothballs crit re-cap

2011-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

I was completely shut down Sunday. Got it handed to me in the 35+ & then got a worse beating in the P/1/2. Still 27lbs over race weight...that blows. There were about five guys to watch in the 35+ and about forty guys to watch in the P/1/2. I'm sitting there watching Jack Lindquist, Erik Saunders, Justin Williams, Danny Kam, Rudy Napolitano & Ashley Knights while Pista Palace is just wrenching it at the front. There's no way out of the box. These guys are so fast right now, and I'm glad to hear that Saunders is back in So Cal...we missed him.

Thanks to Armando for proting the event...one fo my favorite courses.

Anger Management Crit, race re-cap....

2011-01-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

For the record, 450+ single entries & multiple 2nd/3rd racers. Even after race promoting for 11 years, I still get no sleep the night before the race: what if the van has a flat tire, what if the generator doesn't work, what if I forget waivers, what if someone breaks into the van & steals the video cameras, and those questions (and many more) keep me up until my boots are on the ground and everything is in its place. I gotta lotta love yesterday, and that helps motivate me. I know once the bike race date conflicts arise that support cannot sustain January's attendance, so for today - it is a good day.

I was shocked, SHOCKED, by the attendance. The Cat. 5s were full, the Cat. 4s a little less, and the Cat. 3s still less than the 4s. The 50+ had 100 racers, the 55+/60+ had 45 racers, and the 40+ Elite, 30+ Elite, and 30+ 4/5 had 100+ racers in each category. All I can say is this: for once a month (CBR weekend crits), these races will be frowned upon by USCF for upgrades...so what? Anytime you can race a closed course, the best training is always racing.

There's no way you can duplicate a race on PCH; once you hit a stoplight, your heartrate pluumets and you are now doing intervals (to the next stoplight or stop sign)-not racing. I think it's a joke that if you somehow manage to beat Jamie or MJ at a CBR crit, those points don't count for USCF upgrades...but if you beat me at the off-season crit in the Cat. 2/3 race, you get upgrade points. Now I ask you, who is more worthy of the upgrade: the racer who beat MJ in May, or the racer who beat me in November???? For heaven's sake, Gord Fraser won the 40+ yesterday! But the USCF upgrade bureaucrat will look at that and merely say, "wasn't a USCF race-rejected." It's just dumb. For the racers that want to excel & "get it," they'll be racing on closed courses with other fast racers. For the others...good luck with that.

Take a good long look at this picture that Dan Munson took: he captured in this photo what I mostly feel like 23h, 59min of every day. With just one click, I gotta hand it to him....he fvcking nailed it.

Things are starting to look up for CBR in 2011!

2011-01-20T19:50:00.001-08:00

I'm very happy with the new BAR Series race Leader jersey (clikpik 2 nlarg); please take note of the "Eldo Worlds" on the sleeve, as this is truly a world championship every Tuesday. As far as membership goes, I'll have a better picture after Sunday but so far we're ahead of schedule...good to see people take advantage of the early bird discount!

Weather's gonna be great, and I'm racing the 40+ and P/1/2. As far as music's concerned, it will prolly be 80s, 90s & Deadmau5.

and now, another word from the idiot......

2011-01-14T15:33:00.000-08:00

This is the year that I want to be less offensive rather than more offensive. I react to things badly, and I'm working on improving that. With my birth and subsequent life since 1967, there have been many roads travelled, most of them very unpleasant. I'm neither making excuses nor blaming anyone but myself for my actions. Whether it's the words I've recently typed or the things I've recently said, I apologize for any ill-will I have caused anyone. Clearly, my actions do not sit well with the rest of the class, and I'm sorry.

Specifically: Pat West, Dave Ashman, Tony Cruz, Mark Bixby,Kelly Morris, Eric Smith, Greg Aden, Steve Johnson, Doug Lowe, Brad Hunter & others have received my rants, and undeserved or not, I should have reacted better. For that, I apologize. I write this wanting nothing in return, just from me to all of you. If you know any of these people on this long list, then please do me a solid and pass the word. I make mistakes, I'm far from perfect, and I will try to be better by allowing my actions & words to stand on their own without the crutches of another's actions.

Ken Brant's service

2011-01-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

It turns out that I did not know Ken Brant that well. He was ALWAYS cheerful, pleasant & gentle...something I hope to be one day. He took photos of racers, took him forever to get his website (www.kennybz.com), and I kept needling him to get onto Facebook, which he finally did! All I knew was that he liked motorcycles, Jaguars, and bicycles & photography.

At the service today, I found out that he also did triple centuries, HPV, and knew much about jewelry! Many people came to celebrate his life, and what an interesting life it was. I'm fairly certain that Ken died before he wanted to, but he was enjoying his hobby when he went. The world is just a little bit sadder without Kenny in it, and he will be missed.

The latest on the future

2011-01-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

We live in a society that shoots the messenger; people choose to focus on the words and not the action. I believe that Eric Smith's existence does not improve local bike racing: a lackey is a lackey is a lackey. I believe that Tony Cruz has harmed portions of the cycling community: promise everything, deliver something else, if at all. Racing since 1986, promoting since 2001: I call it like I see it. I don't train for training rides, I train for bike races.

I do not practice servility, otherwise known as "boot-licking" or "ass kissing." False flattery is for assholes that cannot stand on their own accomplishments, and the people that desire their boots to be licked are worse than the ones that do the boot-licking. I am the arch-enemy of phonies: people who say things they don't mean, people who talk out of both sides of their mouths, and people who will compromise whatever little character that remains in their miserable bodies.

Whether or not CBR exists is of little consequence. If the racers wants So Cal Cup points, then that's what I'll give them. Unless the sky starts to fall, I don't see real problems in 2011, but I have anticipated and planned for them, just in case. As of today, we have 445 annual members. If 90% of those members (400+) came to all ten-race weekend BAR Series crits, then it's going to be a good year, and that's keeps everything the same as previous years-no changes. I plan for the worst and hope for the best.

Tony Cruz, Part 1......clik pic to read

2010-12-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

I first started bike racing after watching LeMond in 1986. The USMC stationed me in Seal Beach of all places, so eventually I found my way to Long Beach Velo Club in 1987. In 1989, I was one of the founding members of Velo Allegro (VA), a splinter faction of LBVC. Since that time, VA's changed. The current officers are a mixed bag & I mean them no ill will, but the club officers that have systematically crawled up Tony's butt (Frank & Carlos) are only driving VA off a cliff; it's a shadow of what it was once. Anyways, I rec'd this Facebook msg. from Tony Cruz's former partner this morning. Click the pic to enlarge and read.

I'm sure Tony has all sorts of excuses as to why he's constantly a victim of this or that, but at the end of the day, the common denominator is that Tony's touch is not quite the Midas Touch-definitely not everything turns to gold, but rather, poop. Tony Cruz likes to align himself with Mark Bixby as well as Al "I lie to police officers" Crawford, who's married to Laura Lingren...no wonder she never took his name. Al's about as honest with police as he is fertile. These three: Cruz, Bixby, & Crawford have been awarded the same designation as Steve Hegg.

Like I said, 2011 is gonna be a fun year because it's gonna be my year: whether it's to the top of the penthouse or the bottom of the basement: it will be 110% under my command & control. I will neither tolerate a-hole morons nor will I tolerate those that stab me in the back at any of my races: they are too stupid to understand the phrase, "Best Friend or Worst Enemy." Now we all know that there are two sides to every story. Tony's side is easy: he's the victim, did nothing wrong, blah blah blah. Here's the version of his former partner, enjoy.

Chris,
Hi..We don't know each other......but i wanted to say that i was just pointed to your blog. i was tony cruz's 'partner'......i actually designed the bikes that tony was going to be using for his company. i liked your blog....had i read something like his before....wow....i never would have agreed to things with him. his promises were big...but no follow thru.....lucky for me i got out in sept, two days after our 'launch' as i was sensing things weren't good with him as he never came up with the assets he promised he would have by then for me to go 50-50 with him. As his 'vendor'....i was pretty caught off guard when he cancelled his order in november....wow...this guy was getting advice from friends saying that he can pay-$200 bucks for a frame in asia and make more money if he cut me out.

ugh....the only peple i feel bad for though were the one's he collected money from and he never bought their frames from me.....ridiculus.....turns out i heard he spent his profits...then dipped deeper and just didn't have the money in the end...i guess he told some people i raised my prices...i just laughed though....he had my prices before he collected one dime from people....and i was only adding $235 to cover my exclusivity to him over my actual manufacturing price......too sad! ok.....just wanted to say you were right on about things.....more than you know!!

This is the guy who gets Wiesel's coffee! Also the same guy driving USCF off the cliff! Watch the interview & read the comments.

2010-12-15T05:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.cyclingdirt.org/coverage/237952-Elite-Men-Women-2010-USA-Cyclocross-National-Championships/video/383641-Steve-Johnson-CEO-of-USA-Cycling-On-The-Future-Of-USA-Cyclocross ---reported from www.cyclingdirt.org

Steve Johnson, CEO of USAC, is a politician and a joke. Support Non-USA Cycling events! With this clown's IQ points, he's gonna drive CX off the cliff just like NORBA. They are too busy looking for the next Pharmstrong to grow this sport. ATRA, Oregon, Colorado, ABR & CBR show that people do care about growing the sport & that bike racing thrives without the USCF.

If the USCF was so great then there would be no need for other cycling organizations, and if they did exist then they would die on the vine....clearly NOT the case. As one of the cyclingdirt commenters stated, triathlons are growing even during bad economic recessions. Fish stink from the head, and this ass-clown is too busy stroking Wiesel to grow bike racing either in the dirt, on the road or on the track.

Yesterday's USCF race, or, So Happy to Have CBR Return in 2011

2010-12-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

AWESOME

It's really fun to promote races, most of the time it doesn't matter who's sanctioning it. Talking to racers, getting stuff fixed & resolved and watching the racers progress. Racers who excel are always the ones who race all the time. I am a very small cog in a very big machine; my place in the food chain is always at the bottom; all I do is bring excellent volunteers together with racers on a safe course. Generally, I throw out my back on Saturday (loading the van), throw it out again on Sunday (unloading van in am, then loading van in pm), then throw it out a 3rd time on Monday (unloading the van). I will keep doing it until no one attends my races! I love my volunteers and I really really super-duper love the person who wrote the blog comment about the California State Team! I appreciate all of my volunteers and I will do anything for them; they have my ear, my loyalty, and anything else I can give.

HORRIBLE

Having promoted races for over ten (10) years, I know a little something about starting races, responding to crashes, dealing with heated exchanges between racers, etcetera, etcetera. Yesterday was a first for me: I had a USCF official tell me that because the USCF Chief referee was late/absent that the race could not start, and if it could not start then it could not count towards the Cat. 4 upgrade. My response? "Roll out, racers, and have fun." Do you know what would have happened had we waited for our Chief Ref. to return from Africa? Yup, we, would still be there, waiting. Unfortunately, Eric Smith doesn't have the wherewithal to separate behind-the-curtain issues from what's released to racers. Just because the USCF screws up doesn't mean that the racers should suffer.

Eric Smith, always taking the credit when things go good and always pointing the finger the other way when things go bad, assigned a USCF Chief Referee to my race who was in Africa. Never mind the fact that I had paid my fees months in advance. Never mind the fact the Eric Smith knew these dates months in advance. Eric Smith was still hell-bent on screwing the racers in an amateur bike racing hobby....mainly a bunch of 5s & 4s who are trying to improve themselves.

Do I believe it was intentional? Yes. Do I believe that Eric's just looking for a reason to smear my race operations, even under USCF permit? Yes. The USCF, after taking money from me, failed miserably in providing to me what was owed to me after taking my money. I was only obligated to pay their fees, and even after paying their fees, they had the balls to tell me that these bikes races were not gonna count towards upgrades because Eric Smith assigned me a referee who was in Africa? Are you fvcking serious? How is it that their failures equate to the individual racer suffering?

It's so pathetic because Eric Smith, rather than take the hit for his failure, immediately goes into typical & historical ass-protect mode and tells me that Marilyn Allen is the one who assigns race officials. I know Marilyn, and Marilyn would not do this. What's next that will come outta his pie hole...Eric will blame the poor guy who was in Africa? This is the beauty of delicate, douchebag egos; they never know how to accept responsibility...it's always the other guy's fault & never theirs. I'm surprised that Eric Smith is so stupid so as to give me this kind of ammunition. If reversed, I would limit my adversary's ability to make the most of my failures by not failing.

I guess while Eric was making AT&T a better NSA snoop that spied on American citizens, I was reading Sun Tzu and avoiding catastrophic failure.

and the USCF discrimination against CBR continues...

2010-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

Poor, old, non-cycling, non-bicycle racing Eric Smith. He just wouldn't be him unless he was making the sport of bicycle racing worse.

So every year, the USCF in So Cal has the 'promoter's meeting,' where old & new promoters come together to fight for race dates. Usually the notice is broadcasted on SCNCA's website about a month in advance, but this year, Eric chose to keep it a secret. That's how guys like him operate-in secret. Eric thinks that information is power, but this is a hobby for 95% of So Cal racers, and SCNCA is (allegedly) a non-profit...like the way USA Cycling's a non-profit. Is it necessary to have secrets in bike race promoting, really? I guess (even) new promoters weren't given the opportunity to attend, and someone like me who actually promotes USCF races wasn't invited. This just furthers their attempt to return to the monopoly: one person controlling the whole show.

So Eric, on 11/21/10, had the secret promoter's meeting where it was apparently invitation-only: Eric decided who got the invite & who didn't. I didn't read that job description in SCNCA's non-profit Articles of Incorporation, but that matters not to Eric. I haven't attended these meetings since (I think) 2007 because they're a waste of time. Keeping the meeting secret was Eric's middle-finger to me: no biggie, I just changed a few dates on the BAR Series, so now I conflict with the Tour of Murrieta in March and the San Clemente crit in August. Other than that-full steam ahead.

Eric Smith is the one that decides the point classification in the So Cal Cup: he loves that kinda power & control. He decides the value of a time trial, a circuit race, a crit, a stage race, a championship. At SCNCA, Eric runs it anyway he wants, and this is how he wants it to run.

Eric Smith doesn't get it: it took him 8 years to add money to the So Cal Cup, so how long will it take him to figure out transparency works for everyone racing their hobby? Let me hammer the point further: to this day, Eric Smith refuses to provide the sizes of the field limits in the So Cal Cup categories because he wants it secret! Providing field sizes would be great for racers wanting to upgrade but it also gives it to the enemy, CBR, so Eric will not include field sizes! Using Eric Smith's brain, the best way to grow the sport of bicycle racing is to keep things secret & channel all the power to one person. That's how a monopoly is grown, not a hobby.

I'm gonna tell you a story & see if you can guess who I'm talking about....

2010-11-23T14:00:00.000-08:00

If I told you that:

1) I was gonna form Lotts & Associates, where my "consulting" connection to a City Manager (Pat West) in Long Beach was gonna get me 'ambassador' ('consultation') money &

2) I was gonna form Lotts Consulting, where I was gonna charge people money by telling them how to ride a bicycle &

3) I was gonna form Lotts Industries, where I was gonna slap my name on a bike while some guy made the bike...

but then, I had a falling out with the frame maker/business partner, and now I gotta refund money to people on Velo Allegro because it's either that or charge them way more money than originally agreed upon...would you now want to buy my crap with my name on it?

It reminds me of this same guy that tried to buy Sandpiper bikes waaay back in the day, then that fell through! It also reminds me of this same guy that tried to mediate between me & Long Beach in March/2010, then that fell through! It also remind me of the guy that was gonna promote bike races in Long Beach every Wednesday, but then couldn't commit to every Wednesday night.

Moral of the story...don't be that guy associated with things failing. The common denominator with failure is failing, and people don't care about excuses...all they care about is not getting their bikes at the agreed-upon price. NOT COOL.

2011 CBR rules changes

2010-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

1st change: upgrades. Cat 5 to 4 must successfully complete ten (10) massed-start races. A racer can be lapped but must not crash out of the race. Upgrades to Cat. 3, 2 & 1 must place top-3 three times or top-6 six times. There are no points for experience: you must (at least) place top-six in a category to advance to the next category.

If USA Cycling refuses to recognize CBR races, then there's no reason to recognize USA Cycling's point system. CBR's reverting back to the old-school USCF upgrade when I upgraded to a Cat. II in 1990: three top-3 or six top-6s. Racers who are interested in advancing do not need experience: they need to place.

2nd change: dopers. Anyone who has ever had suspended racing license, had suffered a revoked racing license, been denied to participate in a race, disqualified from racing or participating in a race as a result of using performance enhancing substances shall not race in CBR-permitted races.

This means that the Steve Heggs, the Tyler Hamiltons & the Floyd Landis' of the world don't race CBR races. Being a cheater is the same as being a liar, and that's a character defect: not an isolated, once in a lifetime mistake. These are not diseased drug addicts with psych problems: these are cheaters, and they are not welcome at local races. They cheat & lie amongst their peers (fellow bicycle racers), as as far as I'm concerned, they can race at USA Cycling....CBR's interested in clean racers who don't lie to their peers.

For all of you that "get it," please Buy Nothing Day on November 26th, 2010

2010-11-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

How many times have I told this story? Who cares! I was in Nelson, British Columbia in 2005 when I found this magazine, Adbusters. It was a magazine that had ZERO advertisements. Ever since, I've been a subscriber. Adbusters started Buy Nothing Day (BND) as a way to communicate that the spirit of the holidays is not thru spending money & consuming. It's always the Friday right after Thanksgiving because that's the day where all the stores kickoff the holiday spending frenzy with sales & advertising.

Anyway, I think it's a great concept, and if I can enlighten you by sharing with what i find interesting, then great. If not, that's okay, too. I will do my very best not to buy anything on 11/26, and as far as the holidays are concerned, I'd rather have a really funny card that had some thought behind it rather than some material 'thing.' And if the spirit really moves you, then stop by Border's or Barnes & Noble and flip thru Adbusters...you might like it!

What I lack in innovation, I'll try to make up in imitation....

2010-11-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

So last week Michael Moore was on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. Mr. Moore discussed democrats of days gone by, and then they discussed Bush. Mr. Moore then said something insightful, which I will also do my very best in applying to CBR. He said that the democrats have had 2 years of blaming Bush for all of America's woes and that blaming never fixes. Likewise, me crying about USA Cycling does nothing to better CBR. USA Cycling, and all of its wonks, will never get it: it's never about the racer to USAC, it's about the wallet....so move on, Mr. Lotts.

That being said, there are some really nice racers on the Fluid team that are trying to get me a bike race in Southern Nevada...hopefully it will be on May 1st & will attract racers from Arizona, Southern Utah, and So Cal. I do depend upon the kindness of racers, and I told them that if this race comes to fruition, then every Fluid racer races free. This will also be BAR Series #10, so I'm really hoping this becomes a reality. May 1st, 2011 is a Sunday...play in Vegas on Saturday...race on Sunday! As soon as I have more details, you'll read it here. I will continue to innovate, imitate, and reward the loyal.

Race re-cap & other stuff.....12/12 race adds a xtra 4/5 (75 racer max.) field limit! (clik pic 2 nlarg)

2010-11-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

OK, yesterday was friggin' awesome. No shenanigans of any kind! Everyone had fun and the comments I rec'd were one of, "I didn't think it was gonna be that fast for this time of year..." Marilyn & Jim were excellent officials and the newbies did exactly as they were supposed to do....which makes me think of an idea I've wanted to do for the past 5 years...more later.

Part of what lowers my stress level on race day is to ensure we have enough volunteers because I cannot do this alone. I get there at 4:30am and am completely trashed by 5pm. My old bones are not as strong as they used to be, but it re-motivates me to keep doing this when racers drive from vegas, San Diego, Phoenix & Santa Barbara and enjoy themselves. Personally, my money was on Ryan, JvD & Canavari in the 2/3s race (if it came down to a field sprint) & I picked 2 outta the 3...I forgot about Ashley Knights! I thought all these guys were Cat. 1s but then I also forgot that this was a USUC race and those idiots won't upgrade these guys. They'll be USUC Cat. 1s soon enuff, and then they'll never forget that it was CBR that recognized them for their true efforts-well before USUC....and they'll never forget/forgive USUC, either. I only hope that those guys tell all of their racing friends about their experiences...

I was VERY HAPPY to see the football team of SC Velo/InCycle! They showed up as a team and raced as a team and that's the kind of stuff that needed during pre-2011 season. You can never duplicate racing in training rides...it's only the races where the knives are sharpened & honed.

As far as full upgrade points count (top-6 get points), the field must have a minimum of 51 starters. Anyone looking to upgrade better have that burned into their brain. Motivate your teammates to assist you in your upgrade endeavors: bribe them with booze, free entries or lap dances...just git 'er done! I hope that 12/12/ gives us the same weather & that more teammates come out to play & test their legs, grab some points & enter the 2011 season fit & fast! Hope to see you then.

The USCF's socalcup and the for-profit USA Cycling continues.....

2010-11-13T04:00:00.000-08:00

After 8 years of living in CBR's shadow, USUC's only brain-meter responds with a $10,000 cash purse for socalcup points. The wizard who finally came to this decision didn't do it for the racers - it was a final attempt to kill off CBR. It works for me because this is what competition is supposed to do in the marketplace...it makes it better for the racer. CBR exists and it forces USUC to include a cash purse for the socalcup. If CBR didn't exist, then USUC would continue their middle finger to the racers. I'll be really happy when they take all of Jan Luke's paycheck & boomerang it back to the USCF racers....and speaking of money-grubbing do-nothings.......

For-profit USA Cycling corp. to make more money off the backs of racers!!!

Just when you think it couldn't get any worse, they found a way to make more money from you! Not only do they want you to register your club for $150/yr, not only do they make money off of their $3/racer insurance policy, not only do they lie to you by telling you that your club must promote a race (think WMDs in Iraq), but they also want you to (very soon) register online for their USCF races with only their registration process! Think active.com fees but bigger! They're not gonna charge just enough to cover costs because that's what a non-profit does...the for-profit USA Cycling will charge more money than needed so that they can ensure a good profit from their "registration" revenue generator! Let's re-cap: they profit from club/team registration, they profit from their insurance policy, they profit from the annual license fee, and now they're gonna profit from their new race registration process.

If it walks like Wiesel, talks like Wiesel & smells like Wiesel.....

Today was a good day....

2010-11-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

1) I rode my bike for the 1st time in 6 weeks. I had to wear a XXXL jersey & went anaerobic beyond 14mph, but it's a start. I can always lose the weight, but one can never lose stupid.

2) I was happily shocked/surprised that Dave W. & Dave F. renewed their support of CBR. For sure, I thought that I had lost a certain portion of the SI club/crowd. Dave W. always made it a point of reminding me of my potty mouth, so I always think of him when I slip up.

3) CBR will have a team in 2011 & I hope to have jersey/bibs finalized by Turkey Day with Champion Systems delivering before BAR Series #1...speaking of which.....

4) The SCNCA, ever the years behind CBR, finally got their sh*t together and awarded money to their SoCalCup in 2011....finally. CBR first did the BAR/BAT, then the BAR Series money, then the Insider Club. CBR is the leader in local racing innovation & always will be...SCNCA will live in our wake for as long as CBR exists.

5) Two people make kick-ass donations to CBR last month, SD & KB, and for ever since I can remember, we've operated every year at a negative ~$6,000. Their help made me less fat & less bald, and I really appreciate their faith in me, and I will not let them down by putting it to good use...towards CBR's local racing.

6) Currently, we have 71 CBR licenses for 2011, A whole buncha licenses got returned with bad address, and I'll post names by the 14th to help in locating current addresses. That being said, if you don't like me, then get the CBR license...here's how it works: processing the license costs me time. You racing with the annual license costs me money because you get the discount at the races & throws your name in the hat for the overall BAR Series. If you don't get the license, then I don't process the paperwork & you are charged the higher entry fee for the 1st race as well as the 2nd race AND you are not eligible for the BAR Series. What better way of giving me the finger than by getting the annual license? On the table right now is the 2011 State Champs & to keep it entirely closed to annual members, and that brings me to...

7) 2011 CBR State Champs...HILLCLIMB! Prolly in Lone Pine, prolly up Mt. Whitney. Mass-start to the top. Here's a little something about the freaks that want to cry about how USA Cycling's the best thing since sliced bread.....sponsors only want to see STATE CHAMP on the resumes...they don't care about the Association, sponsors who are either giving product or money want to see winners, not losers. Does anyone think that Oregon has ZERO sponsorship because their state champ's from OBRA and not USCF? Same goes for ATRA and Colorado...sponsors want state champs, not USCF state champs. If you still don't get it, then think about a smaller-brain sport like ball-in-a-cup.

8) Today we had the Board of Director's meeting, where we discussed the recent past, present & future of CBR. We also approved the federal & state tax returns of CBR for 2009. If anyone wants them, send me an email & I'll forward them to you. CBR's income comes from memberships & donations. Unlike USA Cycling, CBR does not profit from bike race promoters...it's memberships & donations.

Today's rant....and how to write it

2010-11-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

Back in high school, I was funneled into the math/logic part of the brain. As a Sophomore, I took a writing class because (even then) I wanted to improve my weaknesses. As time unraveled, I spent less free time with logic & more time with writing. It's funny, but I kept most of the crap that I wrote in 1984, and reading it makes me cringe. I hate reading what I write & rarely read it after the 'send' button is pushed. Writing is all practice, practice, practice. Roger Worthington is an excellent writer, a horribly crappy beer maker! :) but a great writer.

On this day, it is Election Day. As a registered Republican, it saddens me that people like Karl Rove have taken over the asylum. The vitriol has taken over the issues. I am all for small gov't, death penalty, no welfare & zero tolerance for corruption. Awarding no-bid contracts to Halliburton 'cuz Dick Cheney's connected as the US-VP sickens me. Politicizing the highest court in the world is & will destroy democracy. Today, no one gives a shit about the war, no one gives a shit about gay marriage, no one gives a shit about abortion & gun control. The only thing on the minds of Americans is JOBS. If our elected leaders do not find a way to get this done, then shame on them. I don't want to hear about John Boehner refusing to converse with those who disagree with him. Solve the problem, get it fixed, then go play your dumb little reindeer games.

I'll leave you with this: if you are unemployed & had no hope of gaining employment, would you rather have a job & pay too much in taxes or would you rather not have a job? George Bush drove America right off the cliff & into a recession with his de-regulation, his war-driven economy & his tax cuts for the corporate welfare/outsourcing jobs overseas. His economy loses jobs while the rich get richer, idiots. Obama got a shitstorm to fix. If it was me, I'd rather have a job & pay more in taxes than sitting there unemployed, listening to republicans cry about taxes.

Tell you what, Republicans get to cry about taxes once unemployment is below 5%. Until then, STFU & focus on the needs of Americans (hint: the answer is not found in outsourcing jobs to China while the corporation pays ZERO taxes).

An officer will not lie cheat or steal, nor tolerate those that do.....

2010-10-30T02:00:00.000-07:00

1) Whoever's gonna be announced on Joe Papp's tainted urine results---you need to return those CBR winnings you stole. If you raced dirty, then you are not welcome at CBR events, and you need to return that money which was (basically) ill gotten gains. If you took synthetic testosterone & then lied about it, then you're more than welcome at USCF events-not CBR. If you keistered caffeine suppositories in hopes of an unfair competitive advantage in the 1988 Olympics & then got kicked out, then you can stay the heck away from CBR's local grassroots races. A heel is a heel is a heel. People's character never changes: the cheat at 20 years old is the cheat at 45 years old, only the details change, never the character. And guess what??? If you lie down with dogs then you just as guilty as havin' fleas, too!

2) 2011's gonna be CBR's make or break year...I'm tellin' y'all rite now. I just mailed 1,451 CBR memberships. There's an early bird discount: $40 for the 2011 memberships and after 01/01/2011 the annual membership is $60. 2011 will be CBR's 10th year of existence, and if we cannot obtain 1,000 members (from a pool of the 3,600 USCF locals) after ten years of doing this dance - then maybe we do need to fold up our tents and turn everything over to USUC. I think that the ten-year experiment should determine it one way or the other...if that's what people want, then just give it to 'em...time will tell.

3) I haven't gone on my Magella yet, as I forgot that I'm going to vote on Tuesday! I'll leave after the 14th, then I will have Thanksgiving with Vera & her family if they are nice enough to have me in their home. Plus, I had to get out those renewals as this time of year is extremely behind-the-curtain. My stoopid letter folder crunched quite a few letters (I'm sorry for only being able to afford that Made in China crap), my inkstamp ran out of ink (I also ran out of formatted envelopes), I barely had enough stamps, I had to re-use printer paper, I might have sent duplicate letters by mistake, I might have either misspelled, not capitalized or both, and I can only type what I can read - so if I made a mistake, please forgive me. I will NEVER come close to walking on water, I am certainly nobody's role model, I wear my emotions on my sleeve, I tell people what I think at the time I'm thinking it, and I hold people to higher standards that I cannot hold myself, but at the end of the day - I hope that my heart is in the right place when it comes to doing the right thing for the bike racer, using safe courses & not wasting the precious time the racers give to me when they attend my bike races.

4) I just found out that Kyle Heinrich, one of my friends & a local HB bike racer, got hit by a drunk driver (CBR posted the article on Facebook). Life is way too short, as any of us can get nailed by some a-hole at any time of day, whether we're on the bike, in a car or in a plane. I don't waste my time dealing with fake people: those who say one thing on one side of their mouth, yet say the total opposite on the other side of their mouth.

4) I don't know why I waste time with it, but there's this group of really pretentious riders, none of them race but they are all too good for those lowly bike riders who do fun rides, so this clique makes their own "fun ride." They recently had this party where, basically, a couple of rich people stood around while everyone else kissed their asses (not literally). B O R I N G.....all I thought of was that there wasn't a single Danny Kam in the bunch, and anyone who knows Danny Kam knows how funny he is and how real he is....what a shame that in this group of chocolate starfish, they didn't have one truly funny guy at the party. A couple of 'em are real morons & according to them, I'm prolly the devil, but I don't break bread with Olympic Cheaters (see above "...will not lie cheat or steal nor tolerate those that do."). In this age of transparency, people vote nowadays as to whether or not they personally like me, not with what I'm doing with grassroots racing. Maybe I could have more fake friends if I just pretended to laugh at their stoopid lies and simply puckered up.....

5) I read a great story about Taylor Swift. A reporter asked her if she thought she scared off potential boyfriends by writing songs about them, and she told the reporter that she had made no secret about her song writing and that yeah, if some guy does something wrong then they can bet that they'll be on a record! I thought that was awesome, and it kinda falls alongside what I do, and for the rest of those that are slow on the uptick.....if you slight me & don't make it right, then count on seeing your name in print!! Keep your friends close and keep your enemies on Ebola Island-adjacent to the Leper Colony. Pat West: idiot jerk who makes things worse, that goes double for his bureaucrat Dave Ashman. USA Cycling idiot Steve Johnson - ditto. All those years that Jan Luke (aka Tomo Trapper) blackballed & still craps on CBR...eff her, too. I forgot, but she was married to some Cat. III Southbay Wheelman guy (crit racer, I think) before she started working at Jax (waaaay back in the day)...anyone remember his name?

6) For those that believe in the cause, that believe what Vera, the volunteers & I are doing is a good thing for local bike racing, then you can print & mail the 2011 membership right here. If you would also like to be an Insider for 2011, cool. I don't cure cancer & I don't save lives: what you see is what you get. I have stood in harm's way and will continue to fight the good fight. When I am dead, I only want enough close friends to carry the urn, walk it over & empty it into the litter box, and if I don't start losing weight then it's gonna be an XL size urn. Good kitty!

Time for another magella...

2010-10-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

I first learned of this word when I watched Anthony Bourdain, the Malaysia episode. A "magella" is a journey: you venture out, something changes you, you get scarred, and you come back. Life is rarely pleasant, and when it is-it doesn't last long-that's just life. During this, he was tattooed as a reminder of his "magella," or his journey into Malaysia and being with the Malaysian people. The elders there did a ceremonial dance to showcase all of their tattoos, as each tattoo represented something significant in their lives.

In my own pathetic life, I acquire stickers where I have journeyed and place them in a scrapbook, not exactly a tattoo, but a reminder nonetheless-as long as I don't misplace my scrapbook.

Watching today's episode reminded me that it is time for me to venture out: this time, to go to places & destinations where I have never been. I thought I was gonna be able to wait until I was under 200lbs., but I don't think so I can wait that long. The one thing that I will bust out before I leave is the 2011 renewals, but once those are done, I am gone & heading East.

For the most part, I'll be sleeping in the Lunch Box along with my bike. I should be gone by Monday, renewals to be rec'd by Tue or Wed, depending on members' cities....I'll only be gone for 5 days, but going someplace without a destination is really, really, fun.

The latest news...

2010-10-21T05:00:00.000-07:00

From the Los Angeles Times:

1) Carly Fiorina, ex CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP), complains that California is tax-unfriendly to businesses. But in 2005, HP rec'd huge tax credits courtesy of the 5-member tax panel of the CA Board of Equalization...now get this, HP donated $20,000 in campaign contributions to four of those five members, and those four idiots said that the doations had nothing to do with their decision to give millions of dollars in corporate welfare to HP! That' so funny! How can they say that with a straight face! While Fiorina was making $100,000,000 during her term at HP, she shipped 30,000 jobs OUT of California. She is no friend to Californians, unless you have a blank check to give to her campaign.

For all of you Fox News, bury-your-head-in-the-sand enthusiasts, try to wake up & pay more attention to actions rather than words. If I say that I love my Masters racers, but then I only give them a $10 top-10 prizelist & charge them a $95 entry fee...do I really love my Masters racers?

2) Proposition 23 kills our air quality. Big oil and the whores that work for big oil, will vote 'yes' on Prop. 23, and to hammer the point home, if the Mother Effing American Lung Association comes out to publicly vilify Prop. 23, then isn't that all you need to know? Prop. 23 can be confusing, but understand this....voting 'yes' will suspend a law that restricts greenhouse gases until unemployment drops. Voting 'no' means that the law goes into effect. Carly Fiorina & Meg Whitman want Prop. 23 passed (review sentence #2).

From the Wall Street Journal:

1) US Supreme Court sides with corporations in review of McCain-Feinberg. The US Supreme Court is divided EXACLY down political affiliations: 5 conservative Republicans and 4 liberal Democrats. While this is not new news, because of this ruling, any corporation can flood a individual's campaign war chest. This is how it will play....Johnny environmentalist runs for political office, and his tree huggers take money out of their vegan fund to contribute. It's all pissing in the wind because David Douchebag took his corporation & outsourced his employees to China, took huge tax credits for shipping jobs overseas, has $150 million for his own ads but nonetheless, Exxon, BP, Shell & Countrywide donate millions of dollars because once Douchebag is in office, all of his votes will mirror his corporate pimps.

On MSNBC:

1) US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a very strict conservative, has a wife. This wife, has her fingers in all sorts of cookie jars. These cookie jars have upcoming issues with the US Supreme Court, so how do you think that's gonna play? You think that Justice Thomas gonna recuse himself? Put the 'hell' to the 'no!' Justice Thomas will say with a straight face that there's no connect between his opinion on a matter that has relevance with his wife. Any husbands in the real world wanna weigh in on that one? Personally, I hoped that Justice Thomas, once confirmed, was going to do a complete reversal and become a staunch liberal. Instead, he went further Right. Who wudda thought that him and Justice Scalia would be beer buddies?

It's too bad that California cannot have a governor more akin to Jim Webb

2010-10-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Jim Webb is a Democratic US Senator from the State of Virginia. For those that don't know, he's a former United States Marine/Vietnam combat veteran, college educated, a famous author and a Democrat...oh no! This guy gets it: he never sold anyone down the river, he says what he means, and he acts in a manner that puts country first, career last. This is who we need in public service and at every level: city, county, state & federal.

Is it possible that a USMC Vietnam veteran is a Democrat? Does that shake the very foundation of America, that someone with that kind of background could make such a conscious choice? He didn't come from a wealthy Texas family, he didn't dodge the draft, and he didn't lie to America about Iraq & WMDs that's killed 5,000+ soldiers.

It amazes me that California's the 7th largest economy in the world, the most populous state in the nation, and our best two candidates are Jerry & Meg. IMHO, Jerry will make California worse, but Meg will systematically DESTROY California. She's not a fan of the Browns, the Blacks, the Working class, the Poor, and the Reporters Who Ask Questions. Since she doesn't know squat about politics, she'll hire the same buncha Pete Wilson cronies (the same that worked for the Gropenator) telling her to outsource government to private & connected contractors/campaign contributors. Meg's job creation=corporate welfare...big tax breaks for corporations who won't hire anyone but they'll take the tax deduction that Meg will give them. If she gets in, which I don't think she will, she won't get anything done because she'll piss off & gridlock California's Senate & Assembly. California's in a mess, agreed. The questions is who will do the least damage in trying to get it fixed.

And another thing.......

2010-10-16T01:00:00.000-07:00

Normally, I'd be out riding my bike or some other athletic endeavor...but I'm changing up the gameplan. Ever since I can remember, I've had an issue with food: crappy food and a lot of it. As most of you all know, a not-morbid obese bike race promoter is a happy bike race promoter. It's up to me to own this and to lose what I've gained-without the aid of a bicycle. Without getting into too much detail, I transferred my eating issues to the bike, so I could eat whatever I wanted and nothing happened because I rode all the time. Riding became a job & riding was necessary to eat and not the other way around. I'll deal with this without a reality TV show, without daily diaries of my progress, and without tools...it will just be me getting it done. Don't ever forget that I'm the git-shit-done guy....except for weight loss & diplomacy.

I've stopped drinking milk (and that sux), stopped the eggs, and severely restricted my cheese (I will still eat cheese). Coffee's no fun because I don't use 1/2 & 1/2 anymore, so it's been tea. And while I've angrily adjusted to this new choice, my sinuses are getting better...I've never had both pipes working at the same time since I was a fetus. For that, it's nice to primarily breathe thru my nose when I sleep & I don't awake to a sore throat & swollen lymph nodes...yay.

Last week's USCF bike race: In 2009, we had 131 single entries. In 2010, we had 147....that represents a 12% increase! It may not seem like much, but it is...those 16 additional entries enable me to continue to promote these races...EVERY SINGLE RACER COUNTS-LITERALLY! :)

I started these off season races because it's people like me that try to do my share in stimulating the economy: I must order toilets, race numbers, safety pins, law enforcement, food/drink, USCF officials, insurance, gas for generator...you get the idea. In exchange, I only ask that racers cut back a little here & there so they divert off season bike racing funds to this dance & register for the race. And here's a little secret...it's fun! Ain't no Range Rover for the winner! It's all about the hobby...it ran well, people raced with honor & there were no reported shenanigans!

For those that want to upgrade, it's the perfect opportunity to grab some points...I'm only bummed out that we cannot get 51 racers in the Cat. 4 and Cat. 2/3 because that how many racers we need to get to full upgrade points for 1st-6th. Anyway, we still have November 14th & December 12th...and I added an extra Cat. 5 race because I'm not going to turn away any racer that takes time out of their day to drive to my event...ain't gonna happen. I'll put a foot in their butt for not pre-registering, and then I will pin their number on them, cuz that's how I roll.

USA Cycling & Steve Johnson still stink & still put money first & not the racer...

2010-10-11T05:00:00.000-07:00

So, in addition to getting a lot of love yesterday, I also rec'd a lot of frustration...here's why:
1) Cat. 5 field limit of 50. If the race course is technical, then I totally understand preset field limits. Why USA Cycling sucks is that they allow a combined Cat. 4/5 field limit of 100, so theoretically, I could pre-register 100 Cat. 5 racers before one Cat. 4 registers, and that would be okay. Is USA Cycling'sRisk Management Dept. full of double digit IQs, or is it their Legal Dept? If they allow 100 4/5s in a combo category, then why only 50 in a segregated category? Steve Johnson, ever the idiot, should allow the Chief Official to determine the course limits for Cat. 5s, and I gotta tell ya, the 4-turn Dominguez Hills course, curb to curb, is safe enough for (at least) 75 Cat. 5 racers. There are some courses where no Cat. 5s should be allowed, they are just too technical for such novice racers. It ain't them, it's the course. At Dominguez Hills, the course is totally cool for 75 Cat. 5s, but this is where Steve Johnson is completely removed from the sport, as he is ignorant as to the needs of local racers.

2) Because of USA Cycling's discrimination against CBR, there was a CBR Cat. 3 (probationary Cat. 2) in the USCF Cat. 4 race---that's why it was one of the fastest Cat. 4 races on record. You're going to see a lot of this in 2011. CBR will continue to recognize & award talent by upgrading those that deserve it. If you get legitimate points from any legitmate bicycle racing assn. (USAC, ABR, OBRA, ACA, OBRA, ATRA, UCI), then you get the upgrade. If USA Cycling continues down this path of stupidity, then this is how it will play out: Robby Rocket races CBR races & gets his Cat. 4, then he upgrades & gets his Cat. 3, which makes him eligible to race the P/1/2/3 at Eldo & Irvine. Now, Robby Rocket gets 60 MINUTES of P/1/2/3 training on Tuesday & Thursday...only to return to Cat. 4 on the local USCF Sunday crit that only lasts for 40 minutes. So now, not only can Robby Rocket handle 60 minutes of P/1/2/3 racing, but he can certainly mop up the Cat. 4 field in a 40 minute crit...get it? THE BEST TRAINING IS RACING. Think of it this way, are you gonna get faster by racing at the Cat. 4 Brad House Torrance crit, or wheel-sucking Bahati's wheel at Eldo? Exactly. Here's another problem....the brand new Cat. 4 just upgraded from Cat. 5, so you think kind of scenario will motivate him to stay in the sport or will it it frustrate him? Having racers race in the wrong category is wrong. Not only that, but poor ol' Robby Rocket gonna get accused of sandbagging and he ain't-USA Cycling's holding him back. Idiots. What does USA Cycling do when a racer from Portland shows up with a Cat. 1 road license from OBRA? That's right, they'll put him in the Cat. 5s...double idiots.

3) CBR has more race calendar days than SCNCA-period. There's the Piru TT series, there's the Rockstore TT series, there's Irvine, there's Eldo, then there's the BAR Series. CBR does more for the sport than SCNCA, we know the racers, we know who can sprint, we know who can climb, we know who can time trial, we know who crashes, we know who chop wheels, and we know who gets handsy & mouthie. We see it and hear it at least three times a week! I can't name names, but USA Cycling constantly bends the rules with their bullshit 'executive review committee' that bypasses their own rules. Their own rulebook says they don't recognize points from other assns., but they upgrade people from Oregon, the velodrome & from Colorado all the time because they don't want to lose those few racers that have dual licenses in Oregon & Colorado. It's all bullshit because Steve Jonson is bullshit, his non-profit USA Cycling sees local promoters as cash registers and that's bullshit. Their hypocracy in rule-bending is bullshit, and their cognitive inability to further this sport should have the entire Board of Directors fired and replaced. None of these 'tards get it...grow the sport, focus on the racer, upgrade those that deserve it. Idiots.

Our economy has been driven into a ditch from 2000 to 2008...do you want them back????

2010-10-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

People are pressed for time everyday, and hell's bells, no one reads anymore. And you, gentle & sensitive reader, should listen to those who do read if you cannot read yourself. If I don't understand the physics of flight, then I'm certainly not dumb enough to argue with Chuck Yeager about it. A very, very wise old man recently told me that because of the internet & google-there is no excuse to be stupid anymore. For example, a person like Doug Lowe, who's probably gone no higher than the 8th grade because daddy got him a job at Shell Oil Corporation, can find his way to the internets and learn sign language, become fluent in Greek (if ya know what I mean), or know trigonometry. This means that the holding thing holding back you is YOU.

At the time that Obama took office, America was LOSING 700,000 jobs per month. When Obama took office, he had a huge mess to fix. The US Supreme Court recently sided with corporations, so now corporations can fill the coffers of their republican-backed candidates with unlimited, traceless money - meaning that foriegn money is now being used to help sway American elections. The US Chamber of Commerce will spend $75 million dollars on republican candidates. Mr. Murdoch, the Aussie foreigner, donated $1 million dollars to the RGA (Republican Governors Assn) and then he gave another $1 million dollars to the US Chamber of Commerce. I guess ONLY IN AMERICA can foreign born nationals donate to a US Chamber of Commerce, and then that US Chamber of Commerce will use foreign money to oust other Americans-and in this case-Democrats. Murdoch owns Fox News, that joke of a cable channel where dumb people get their news. Can you imagine an America where CBS or NBC donates millions of dollars to sway political elections? Fair & balanced my ass, but I digress.

From 1980 to 1992, we had Reagan, then Bush Sr. For those 1st couple of years, it was fine, and then came the recession. From 1992-2000, we had Clinton, who dug America out of the recession & national debt into prosperity. Then came Bush Jr. from 2000-2008 and in the beginning, things were okay and then again, recession. It seems that we are right back where we were in 1992, only this time it's worse. The recession Obama gotta fix is worse, and the country's gotten dumber: it seems that Republicans are either inbred Nascar fans or gazillionaires who only want to hate on Democrats & not fix what's wrong.

For the record: I AM A REGISTERED REPUBLICAN, all you hackers out there can search the Orange County public records to verify. That nut job DeMint...he doesn't want homosexuals or sexually active single women to be teachers! Awesome! This is 2010, and we still gotta deal with this retardation? He's from South Carolina, where they look up in the sky and say "big silver bird" when they see an airplane. Didn't it take that state like FOREVER to take the confederacy colors off their flag? I think South Carolina also stopped hanging slaves about ten years ago, so I understand why DeMint's so popular with the Nascar bunch. If you a woman and you wanna be a teacher in DeMint's world, then you better be married, but if you can't be married then you better grab the sewing kit & stapler! I should run for South Carolina governor, and I would promise every child the education that Doug Lowe never got-and I hate kids! I would promise to only hang those people too stupid to procreate! I'd also shove this down the throats of South Carolina locals:

1) No welfare ever, but here's a shovel...you gettin minimum wage @ Public Works to dig holes

2) Death penalty: you betcha

3) Abortion: you betcha

4) Tax & regulate booze, smokes & drugs

5) Any corporation that outsources jobs outside America is TAXED at 95%-done!

CBR Newsletter, 10/2010...clik pik 2 nlarg

2010-10-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon to all!

Earlier I had a glitch with USUC and Bert Glennon, Cycles Veloce/Simple Green, Ironfly & Lightning Velo immediately rendered 1st aid. This is the kinda stuff that makes me want to promote races; thank you for your support!

This Sunday, we'll be promoting the USCF upgrade experience/points crit at Dominguez Hills, race flyer right here:

http://www.californiabicycleracing.org/USCF.Crits.2010.pdf

The weather will be outstanding, and if you are looking to upgrade your category then race as often as you can....the 10 races needed for cat 4 can be done twice in Oct, Nov & Dec - making for a total of 6 Cat 5 races. For upgrade to Cat. 3, a racer needs 25 races and 20 pack fodders or 10 top-10 or 20 points, here are the upgrade rules:

http://www.californiabicycleracing.org/Upgrades.pdf

Tactically, it would be best for all of your teammates to come play: race as a team, block the other teams, set your guy up for the break or sprint! Real world practice, which can never be duplicated in a training ride!

You can register online for this Sunday's race, right here:

http://swww.socalreg.com/schedule.asp?race=Upgrade+Race+%231

Next month, I'll be sending out the renewals for 2011. This will be a critical year for CBR. USA Cycling wants CBR gone, plain & simple. Each & every one of you counts! In the next few weeks, I'll be printing, folding, stuffing, stamping & licking about 1,200 membership applications. For 2010, we has 889 annual members. If we make it to 1,000 members then I promise to have 5 sets of wheels (4 10sp shimano, 1 10sp campy) in our own wheel pit so that you need not worry about bringing extra wheels. CBR's a non-profit, so I must boomerang the funds back to the racers. I would love to offer $2,500 to the elite Masters in every crit/category...I just need support via the annual members & Insiders.

Make no mistake that USA Cycling does not serve the best interests of the So Cal cycling community. They view CBR as a threat to their monopoly, and they are desperately afraid that Southern California will turn into another Oregon (www.OBRA.org), Colorado (www.americancycling.org), or Velodrome (www.raceatra.com). That being said, I will offer any SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RACE PROMOTER $1,000 and will waive all insurance fees in 2011 if they switch their SCNCA race to a CBR BAR Series event. That Brentwood GP that's promoted by La Grange? Not only will I waive their insurance, give them $1,000, but I will also officiate their race for FREE (hint-it's not really me, it's the HD video camera!). So, instead of paying the USCF thousands of dollars, La Grange could actually make more money by promoting it under CBR. Instead of starting in the red, they'd now have an instant $1,000 surplus. La Grange doesn't need USA Cycling: they have built it, and the racers have come. La Grange can do it their way...it's THEIR race!

I quote from an SCNCA/Eric Smith email yesterday, "I have been directed by USA Cycling to inform you that the offer of counting 30% of a rider's upgrade points to come from outside of USA Cycling, has been immediately rescinded by USAC." USA Cycling has offered no explanation and neither has SCNCA. In their world, a Cat. I from Oregon should be racing as a USCF Cat. 5...their unfair refusal to recognize CBR is old-school trying to keep their last stranglehold of their monopoly-Southern California. They hope that the newer racers will not attend CBR events. The Elite & Masters racers don't worry about upgrade points - only those racers who wish to advance up the food chain want upgrade points. I hope that racers see USA Cycling as the horrible non-profit that they are and voice their displeasure accordingly. USA Cycling will only change if they think their wallet will shrink. You have that power, as So Cal is just as strong as Oregon, as Colorado and as ATRA is.

At the end of the day, this bike racing thing is a hobby, and it's nice to grab a bit of coin from a well-deserved effort from this hobby, whether it's $140 for 2nd place or a $10 prime, it's fun. USA Cycling has completely lost sight of the fact that this is a hobby, and all they want to do is give the local racer who's trying to better themselves in this hobby the middle finger. This ONLY makes me dig in my heels harder. Thank you for your support, for your ear, and for your loyalty...Chris

PS: CBR's on Facebook, too:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/California-Bicycle-Racing/210788747612

How can this pig even call herself an American? Of course she's running for a US Senate seat, she wants to buy her way in, just like Pig Whitman....

2010-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the pig that outsourced California/American jobs while she gave herself a very wealthy bonus. This is the pig that said, "we've got to cut costs, so we're gonna fire people in America and by doing so, I'm gonna buy a million dollar airplane/yacht." How can she (even) call herself an American???? How can a person like her run for US Senate and now bray (like an old goat) that she wants to create jobs in California? Oh now that she wants political power, she gives a shi*t about California employment?

I am telling you, America - this is the exact kind of shenanigans that weakens America...you have one person, a corporate CEO making millions while eliminating typical American jobs. This kind of sh*t sickens me. It makes me sick that she has the gall & audacity to (even) contemplate running for an American political office.

What she should do is run for office in India, where she CREATED thousands of jobs in India...she can go the fvck over there and run for office - she, nor her job offshoring is welcome here.

Anonymous said.....

2010-09-22T05:00:00.000-07:00

"Dude going online bashing everyone and dropping names..... do you really think that is going to get them to do what you want. How about being tactful. You are only making them hate you more. September 21, 2010 9:44 PM"

To anon at 9:44pm, CBR's left with ZERO options about upgrades: diplomacy never worked, and just for a history lesson for you...Jan Luke told racers in 2002 not to race CBR events because there was no insurance! This is what employees do to fight for their corporate monopoly. I spent most of 2003 & 2004 explaining to racers that cities would not allow CBR to hold a race without insurance and Jan Luke is just another POS working for a corporation bent on maintaining 100% control in So Cal. Eventually, Jan had to STFU about the insurance thing because it made her look more & more stupid.
Recently, their only angle of attack was reciprocity in upgrade points. They jam up the local racer trying to upgrade, why, exactly? Anonymous, I know it's hard for you to wrap your head around this, but I've been trying for ten (10) years...and the nice & mellow doesn't work and hasn't worked; they only laugh and reject racer upgrades with one side of their mouth, yet have 100% reciprocity with other assns. for their respective local racers with the other side of their mouth. For the record, I'm not bashing everyone. I'm looking for people to do the right thing. If there's a bond fide reason why USAC Cycling brokers deals with ACA & OBRA while they give the middle finger to the SCNCA locals, then they are free to respond - pending their corporate attorney's approval-of course. The answer is, is that there is no legitimate reason, and no lawyer in the world will allow Steve Johnson to send a letter to CBR explaining that USA Cycling just wants their marketshare returned, and that's why CBR locals' points aren't used towards upgrades.
It's like I already said, you will never see a non-profit like Greenpeace trying to put PETA out of business, nor will you ever see a non-profit like ASPCA attempt to put the Humane Society out of business. And instead of bitching to me anonymously, why don't you try & obtain a legitimate answer from USA Cycling that will make sense to the rest of the racers in So Cal? While you're at it, find out how much they pay Jan Luke to deny racer upgrades? I'm thinking the only guy tenacious & dedicated enough is Steve Hansen from Paramount! That guy is a pit bull!!!

USA Cycling, a brief history of cronyism, incompetence & having a monopoly...

2010-09-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

First, any decision-maker that switched from the USCF logo to the USA Cycling logo is destined for business failure. They replaced a great logo, the USCF with USA colors and a bike racer. Then, these failures got rid of it & replaced it with a hybrid wheel (neither road nor mountain tire so it doesn't offend either but ends up offending both) and attached a flying flag to the hub. Are you efing kidding me? Nothing says, "I'm a bike racer," than a flag flying from a wheel hub...but then again, this is the kind of brain that is in charge of Colorado Springs - Steve Johnson.

Next, USA Cycling in one of their many acts of stupidity, fired all of their District Representatives about 15 years ago and replaced them with regional morons. One person they kept employed was Jan Luke-Hamasaki. Previously, Jan Luke's qualifications to being the USCF representative was that she worked at Jax (I know cuz I worked there, too) and married some racer from SBW, then married Tomo Hamasaki, a good Cat. 1 crit racer. Currently, she's as useless as she was 13 years ago, and I challenge ANYONE to figure out how much our non-profit USAC pays Jan Luke for being our Regional ~~Moron~~ Rep. Call/write USA Cycling and try to match what they tell you to their tax return filings! Jan Luke is a perfect fit for USA Cycling, because she is a simpleton, Eric Smith does all the work for her (for free!), and she's the type of employee that gives Steve Johnson the wrong answer, but it's the answer that Steve wants to hear - and that makes for a perfect employee at USA Cycling!

After that, the people who were fired formed their own organizations: NCNCA, ABR, OBRA, ACA. It was & still is an ongoing joke that USA Cycling couldn't get a racer permit in their own state because the whole state had gone to ACA. Around 2001/2002 the NCNCA went back to USA Cycling on the condition that they had ZERO contact with Jan Luke. ABR, mainly in the Midwest, permits the Fiesta Island TT series as well as Dorothy Wong's Cyclocross series in So Cal. ACA permits in Colorado, and OBRA permits in Oregon. Currently, OBRA has about 5,000 members and Oregon might have 50-300 USA Cycling members. To give some perspective, there's about 3,000 USA Cycling road members in Southern California and CBR has almost 1,000 members currently. In 2001, our races were ABR then we began CBR in 2002.

To this day, USA Cycling uses OBRA & ACA & ABR points for USA Cycling upgrades. If there is a region where USA Cycling is a marketshare loser, then they are forced to use another association's race finishes towards upgrade points; otherwise, they risk losing the 125 annual racers that remain in Oregon, and make no mistake that USA Cycling is only about the money: they want more money. They want those 5,000 racers in Oregon (that's $300,000 in lost member license money every year). USA Cycling, thru Jan Luke & Eric Smith, refuse to upgrade local racers in So Cal because it is their LAST DITCH EFFORT to regain marketshare. They hope that fewer racers will become CBR members and even fewer racers will race CBR races in hopes that CBR just dies a painful death and then USA Cycling can go back to their monopoly in So Cal. They are doing the same thing at the velodromes in So Cal and refusing to upgrade based on ATRA points...it's a joke because USA Cycling is upgrading people in other parts of the country based on ATRA points! This is the ultimate joke of USA Cycling: they are a national body but are brokering secret deals all over the USA. If USA Cycling's policy is to upgrade people in Oregon, then why won't they in So Cal? I'm confused, did we buy a USA Cycling license or an SCNCA license, good for racing only in So Cal?

What I predict in the future is that CBR will offer a promoter like Ray Moreno a chance to promote a CBR race in 2011 & beyond. Any promoter is eligible. CBR, as a non profit, will float whatever funds possible to assist that promoter. If they are not interested, then that's also okay. The racers in So Cal are CBR's biggest voters, as you vote with your wallets. They can vote CBR into oblivion or they can vote us into promoting 20 crits per year. The more CBR members, the more races & the more prize money boomeranged back to the supporters. How awesome would it be to give the 40+ or 30+ or P/1/2 exactly $2,500 per crit in their category? USA Cycling will not change. Their arrogance only grows over time: to admit defeat is to acknowledge failure, and you're never gonna get a Jan Luke or an Eric Smith or a Steve Johnson to admit, "yeah, we screwed up, we didn't make the racer our primary focus."

If SCNCA was smart, then they'd have Vera doing all the upgrades and not a half-wit, but-as evidenced by Jan's USA Cycling paycheck, halfwits are gainfully employed at USA Cycling. For every one racer that Greg Aden can actually identify, Vera can identify 100 racers. Unfortunately, SCNCA is 2nd-rate & represents a 3rd-rate business. Had SCNCA been 1st-rate, they wouldn't give someone like me so much ammunition and had SCNCA represented a 1st-rate business, then I'd have nothing to say about OBRA, ATRA or ACA because USA Cycling would be transparent in all avenues of cycling: upgrades, paychecks, etc.

CBR's latest attempt to eliminate USA Cycling's discrimination against CBR regarding upgrade points

2010-09-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

Here are CBR's option regarding reciprocity in upgrade points:

1) Litigation (FAIL) - USA Cycling/SCNCA is allowed to be a monopoly & cannot be sued under the Ted

Stevens Amateur Sports Act.

2) Have local racers & promoters pressure USA Cycling/SCNCA into accepting CBR upgrade points

(FAIL): unless the racers tell USAC that they will refuse to buy a license until this is resolved, USAC will

only listen to its wallet and not the racer (until they see the racers as wallets).

3) CBR gains total marketshare of all Southern California bike races: road, criterium, stage, time trial to

where more people buy CBR license than USCF licenses in So Cal (FAIL).

USA Cycling lost Colorado (www.americancycling.org) and they lost Oregon (www.obra.org): in

order to keep what few USCF members they have in Oregon & Colorado, USA Cycling must recognize

OBRA and ACA and ATRA points (for the velodrome). Because CBR is small potatoes, the USAC thinks

they can treat the SCNCA racers like shit when they try to use CBR points to upgrade. USA Cycling will

do everything they can to get rid of CBR, and they hope that you, the racer, doesn't start asking questions

like, "Why does an Oregon racer get to use OBRA points towards USA Cycling upgrades but a

California racer can't?" Make Jan Luke, Eric Smith and Steve Johnson answer that question. Force

their answer to be backed up by proof and evidence. They don't want you to ask a question like, "Why is

it that a Colorado racer can use ACA points towards their USAC upgrade, but we can't use CBR points

towards a USAC upgrade?" They are losing ground because they act CONTRARY to the interest of the

local racer. OBRA, ATRA, ACA, ABR & CBR succeed because USA Cycling thinks they can run it like a

monopoly-it's their way or the highway. Well, every year, people are choosing the highway. CBR's policy

on upgrades is USA Cycling's policy. Make your voice heard; it's your money and your time.

****************email sent below***********

From: Christopher Lotts (vncracing@hotmail.com)

Date: Sat 9/18/10 11:08 AM

To: Steve Johnson (sjohnson@usacycling.org), Jan Luke-Hamasaki (jluke@usacycling.org),

Eric Smith (redbike@earthlink.net)

Subject: No legal action is necessary; USA Cycling will destroy itself, given enough time

I've been informed that because of the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act , USA Cycling can legally do whatever it wants and is exempt from any form of marketplace litigation! USAC is exempt from antitrust laws as it is the national organization for bicycle racing as an Olympic sport.

USA Cycling is free to do whatever they want with CBR upgrade points, as you are legally free from any moral/ethical obligations to the local racer. Eric Smith, president of SCNCA, accepted CBR upgrade points towards partial USAC upgrades, provided that I complained ad nauseum about upgrading specific racers. In the last few weeks & what truly prompted my demand letter, was that Eric Smith completely ignored my calls & my texts regarding racer upgrades. Jan Luke & Greg Aden also told people that they would not accept any CBR points towards USAC upgrades. Eric Smith's version of the truth is a bit different, as the real underground policy was to tell racers that their CBR points would not count. Eric Smith tells USAC one version of SCNCA's relationship with CBR, and he tells me another version. In the end, it is the racer who suffers, and it seems that all three of you could care less about the local racer. Had your actions been above-board, then the local racers in SCNCA could actually point to a codified policy that everyone would recognize and accept, just like your codified agreement with ACA.

By the way, this is the current USAC Reciprocity Agreement with ACA:

http://www.americancycling.org/sites/default/files/Site_Files/Documents/Racer/09reciprocity.pdf

After speaking with Mike Murray of OBRA, there's no need for legal action. CBR will not litigate the grievance we have with USA Cycling concerning reciprocity upgrade points. What will happen is a complete publicity campaign of SCNCA & USA Cycling's corrupt & hypocritical practices in dealing with other associations...ATRA, OBRA, ABR, ACA, etc. and how USAC's practices against CBR serve no benefit to the local racer. In the event that USA Cycling continues to reject CBR finishes towards upgrade points, then it is my hope that the local racer will apply pressure to local promoters and demand that USAC race promoters switch to a CBR-sanctioned event. In the event that USAC race promoters do not listen to their customers, then CBR's racers will determine whether or not CBR races will conflict with USAC sanctioned events.

Because CBR has fewer sanctioned races than OBRA, ATRA & ACA, USA Cycling is intentionally making life difficult on the local racer. Unlike in Oregon & Colorado, you routinely accept OBRA & ACA points towards USAC upgrades. USA Cycling has proverbially backed CBR into a corner to where CBR has nothing to lose. USAC has lost velodrome racing as most velodromes are now sanctioned under ATRA. USAC has lost Oregon, Colorado, and the Midwest.

In Southern California, CBR events offer more opportunities for racers, especially entry level racers. CBR offers two midweek training series, El Dorado Park & Irvine Great Park, time trials, Piru TT and Rockstore TT, in addition to our weekend races. The difference between CBR and USAC's SCNCA is that we recognize talent & know when it's time to move racers up because we pay attention to every racer at our races. Sadly, people like Greg Aden, Jan Luke & Eric Smith do not know of & see the racers three times a week as I do, but then again - I don't require a computerized resume and a software package to upgrade racers. USAC can choose to have the same reciprocity with CBR as they have with ACA, but they do not...I will begin to inform the SCNCA racers of this by immediately printing & publicizing this email.

Christopher Lotts-CBR

One of the reasons why USCF sux and CBR doesn't....clik pic 2 enlarge, read below to understand & comprehend

2010-09-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

Adult racers, sometimes like children, want to push boundaries in an attempt to see where the Rule Makers draw the line. One side of the line is acceptable while the other side of the line is unacceptable. As you can read, this is my WARNING LETTER. No immediate suspensions, no immediate revocations: just a courtesy notice to inform the offending racer that something happened & I'm (now) giving them my undivided attention. I'm happy to inform my fellow racers, members, customers, sponsors, humans that this letter serves its purpose. The behavior is changed, all for the better of the racing community. It's not issued as punishment or discipline, just to change the behavior & improve bike racing...that's not a bad thing!

In the past, some USCF officials must have been little kids that were picked last in grade-school kickball or never picked at all. Now, as adults, they serve on the boards of homeowner associations (HOAs), they take big-status volunteer positions in lieu of pay, and they wear straw hats at USCF bike races. They desperately want someone to listen to them as they have been ignored most of their life. These are the people that immediately DQ you for hopping on your bike and riding to the porta pottie without a helmet, like you were some 5-year old. These Blue Coats (USCF officials had to wear blue sport coats before they realized they looked pompus and just made them wear blue shirts) live for that insanity, as they do not want you to enjoy your hobby, they want you to obey THEIR rules. Me? I figure California law takes care of the helmet issue and I only force the helmet issue while racers are racing-no matter what the age. Most of my racers are tax paying voters, that means they are big boys & girls and can go to & from without any extra rules.

Racing with the same race number-all day. The Blue Coats, in their infinite wisdom, force promoters to issue one racer two different race numbers for two different race categories because they are afraid that they won't collect their money (of $3/per single entry racer) if someone jumps in a race without paying. You know what I found? There is no rule requiring a promoter to listen to that kind of nonsense.

Paying the cash prizelist 7% USCF tax. The USCF (USA Cycling) forces race promoters to pay a 7% tax on cash prizelists, forcing a promoter to either pay the USCF or lower the prizelist awarded to the racers. This is a DIRECT CONTRADICTION to their status as a non-profit corporation, but I hope to (one day) address that in court. USA Cycling views race promoters as a cash register, and I truly hope to have a federal judge revoke their status as a non-profit and I hope that the judge retros their status back to 2003, thus forcing them to pay the same taxes that they tax local race promoters. I do not view USA Cycling as a non-profit, but as a for-profit corporation, making money off the backs of local promoters as well as their profiting off of their insurance policy of $3 per racer.

If there is a lawyer that wants this case, then you can have EVERYTHING that the judge awards as damages...CBR just wants reciprocity in upgrade points because that's what the local racers want. I would love USA Cycling to take this to a jury or a judge and let them decide if USA Cycling really acts like a non-profit corporation, or are they just a predatory for-profit corporation that denies local racers CBR upgrade points in their only attempt to reduce CBR's business. CBR's upgrade policy is the same as USA Cycling's, so what's the real reason they want to deny CBR points in USCF upgrades?

Have you ever seen a non-profit try to extinguish another non-profit corporation? Can you imagine the US Humane Society trying to bankrupt the ASPCA? Can you imagine Greenpeace trying to put PETA out of business? Is bankrupting another non-profit really part of USA Cycling's mission statement?

What separates real racers from the ones who just strike a pose.....re-cap CBR 2010 State Crit Champs...

2010-09-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

Everyone wants your money: banks, auto dealers, internets, Apple, Ralphs, Toyota, Amazon, Exxon, etc. They advertise and sell you the image of something they think you want. It's gotten so bad with the USCF that they think you should just be grateful to them & lick their feet because they're the USCF. Giving them your money, even in this economic climate, feels like they are doing you the favor. Not me. McGhies/Mandalay Bay sent a platoon of people from Vegas. Danny Kam & Lance, also from Vegas. Chris Bennett & the SDBC crew came from San Diego, Team PossAbilities from Redlands area, Amgen from the valley, SC Velo from the 215, and La Grange from West LA: all of you comprise local racing, and I appreciate all of you taking time out of your day to gas your tanks, write your checks & vote with your wallets.

I do it for you, our family. Christian flatted, and the foto guy gave him his rear wheel. Van Dyke's bike broke, so he used mine for the 30+ & P/1/2. If I had more Insider Club members, then I'd have a neutral Shimano support so you wouldn't worry about wheels - and that's the direction I want to go: I'm just limited economically! My point is that we are in this stoopid sport together. Those Major Motion guys, having fun & making friends while playing with their barbeque is a nice sight to see.

Promoting a September race in Southern California wasn't always a bad idea. The weather was tolerant, the climate acceptable, and racers weren't peaking for the Feb. Boulevard RR soon after November. That being said, I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop on race day. Even with no local crit conflicts and good weather, a September race promoter can (still) get hosed. Thanks to all of you who came out to race, I wasn't worried about that at all. After watching the masters of our racing community school the young ones, I'm reminded of why it's so much fun to watch guys like Jamie, MJ, Thurlow, Bert, Meeker & Billy (get on facebook, mutha effer!). These guys not only have the legs, but they have the tactical savvy that the young ones don't. Those young ones though, are like the Borg...they figure it out quick nowadays and then they adapt. Anthony Canevari is the most improved racer for 2010. He has talent, drive & the ability to take direction. Same thing for Brian McCulloch; he's young, smart & genuinely a nice person. If these two young'ins stick with this stoopid sport, then they will become the MJ and Jamie in the year 2030.

For those that don't know, MJ broke his hip last year in a race and in 52 weeks time, he comes back and just kills it. Jamie just returned from Masters Worlds and he demonstrated that his brain is operating at the same level of his legs by winning the 30+ AND the Pro/1/2 titles. For those that want to move up the cycling food chain, it would behoove you to hire them ASAP. These aren't some Chris Carmichael/cookie cutter take-your-money-and-run mentors. These are guys you see from sun up to sun down. They are at the races, and they are getting results. There are some coaches out there that want to take your money every month and put you on some 8-year bullcrap plan that leads nowhere (RY, TC, CC, etc.). If you want results, then seek out Jamie and MJ. They don't sponsor me & no one pays me to say good things about anyone! I always give credit where credit is due, and these guys deliver, time & time again.

I am so grateful to those that want to sponsor our organization: yesterday's Kool N Fit and Razor's Edge wine were huge hits. Mike gave us extra wine for the podium and I am deeply appreciative of that. Hubert said that KnF is on board for 2011, and I hope Razor's Edge continues to support local racing in 2011, too! At the end of the day, this local racing stuff is about personal relationships. I love this sport and I love my supporters, and I started promoting for one reason but I continued to promote for an entirely different reason.

I continue to promote because this bike racing is a hobby, and people are screwing up the hobby! It's a hobby! We do this for fun. Who's that idiot USCF official that everyone hates? He always wears a straw hat and is just a jerk? He's the midget, power-trippy guy that wants everyone to listen to him cuz NOBODY listened to him - ever. He's the kinda guy that makes people not want to enjoy their hobby. Can you imagine some bowling official suspending a bowler for not wearing their bowling shoes to the men's room?? I try to be a hobby of few rules: race your bike & no shenanigans, pretty simple! I try to stand out, to make a difference in our little world...I could NEVER do this without my selfless volunteers: Jeff & Tony in T-4, Bill, Mike, Jeff & Julio at S/F, Carlos, Christian, Marco, Shon & Chris at Registration. You & the volunteers make this all happen...I just bring y'all together to enjoy your hobby. Thanks again for all your support, and for you racers that want to move up: I suggest you ride those Oct Nov Dec crits and get some upgrade points!

(09/15/10) PS: I totally forgot about Don Denegal volunteering for us (and thanks to Bill Mock for reminding me!)! I am so sorry! Sometimes, church interferes with his time to be with us, so I forget that he cannot be a die-hard all day volunteer! I sincerely apologize for my forgetfullness because we love Don! I think this guy smiles in his sleep! I'm jealous cuz I'm always frowning! Thank you Don!

ATTN all soldiers, current & former: Marine Club Member Number 120794, Christopher Lotts (clik pik 2 nlarg)

2010-09-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is a very nice place to stay in San Francisco and is open to all members of the armed forces, current & former. Being a member connects you to reciprocal clubs all over the world, and I highly recommend joining if you can. It's tax-deductible ($100), and you're right next to Union Square. If you decide to become a member, then please tell them where you heard it from! Marine Memorial Association.

This is our 2010 State Criterium Champions jersey, to be awarded on September 12, 2010!

2010-09-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

OK, cupcakes, I've been very tired of Voler and their Size 2-font California State Champion jersey, and I thank Bert Glennon (bert@bgmdesigns.com) for taking time out of his life to help grassroots racing in our neck of the woods.

For the CBR state crit champions, this is what you will receive! This is an example of a local helping another local. Please visit Bert's website, and there is something that he can do for your business, then support a local who supports locals! Thank you!

These are the corporations that obtain "dead peasant" insurance policies on their employees so they can profit from your death...

2010-09-01T05:00:00.000-07:00

"Dead Peasant Insurance" is employers taking out life insurance policies on employees to make a profit. Most valuable death to corporations is a young female death, because they are expected to live longer than old males. It is illegal for me to purchase an insurance policy on a house in Pelican Hill, unowned by me, because I would make money (i.e., profit) should the house burn down, but it's perfectly okay for corporations (like those pictured above) to purchase life insurance policies on their employees. Corporations have a vested interest in the employee dying, as opposed to a family needing the insurance proceeds to compensate for the loss of the family breadwinner. Only in America do the sheeple vote these people into office and allow them to enact these laws that only benefit corporations...unbelievable.

There was an infamous Citigroup 2005 memo to its wealthy customers described America as no longer a democracy but a Plutonomy: a society exclusively controlled by and for the wealthy. American peasants, while they do not have equal ecomnomic power, they do have equal voting power. One person, one vote. This is what scares the bejeezus out of rich people. The non-wealthy (us!), support this system because they believe, one day, that they too will become wealthy, if they just keep trying hard enough! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! The rich (not us!) are so happy that the poor (us!) have bought into this propoganda because they know, unlike the stupid poor (us!), that the rich (not us!) will never share their wealth.

Other highlights from the documentary, Capitalism: A Love Story:

* General Motors made $24.3 billion in profits while eliminating 100,000 jobs.

* Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding on what to have for dinner!

* The top 1% have more wealth than the bottom 95% COMBINED.

* 1st year pilots at American Eagle make less than a Taco Bell manager.

* Productive is better than less productive, and less productive is better than destructive. Destructive makes the planet worse. Derivative and Credit Default Swaps are and were destructive. Complex Financial Instruments (CFIs) do not make this world a better place. The corporations made these CFI's purposely confusing so they can get away with murder.

*When you destroy financial regulation, you produce a financial catastrophe, plain and simple.

Here's the scam: in the past, people worked towards retirement, which the employer provided. That's so far gone from America! What Americans now have in place is self-retirement: 401(k)s and IRAs. Where's the only place you can invest? Wall St., typically through stocks or mutual funds. What if there's no regulation of Wall St? Then you have what we have now. Privatize Social Security? Sure! You can put all those eggs you have earned in your life into Wall St! Go ahead and invest your life savings in Enron, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, WorldCom, Washington Mutual, CountryWide, Merrill Lynch, or Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac. If those companies are unavailable, then please bet on the American way and invest all of your money by purchasing stock in AIG, Citigroup, and Bank of America.

PROPOGANDA: the ability to convince people who are victimized by the very same system to support the system and see this system as a good. So, to re-cap: if you have less than an annual income of $348,000 (top 1% in 2005), then you are a dupe, a patsy, an idiot. You are the 'mark' in the con game of your life, and while your taxes go to corporations like Goldman Sachs, AIG, Bank of America - you can keep voicing your support & voting for the Rush Limbaughs, the Glenn Becks, the Sarah Palins, the George Bushes, and the Hank Paulsons of the world. While they bedazzle you with same-sex marriages & gun restrictions with their Left hand, you can bet that their Right hand is stealing your wallet.

Try to be smarter today than you were yesterday.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2010-08-30T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Good:
CBR's race season is in twilight mode as El Dorado's last Tuesday will be tomorrow, then there are the Irvine crits on Thursday, Dorothy's races on Wednesday & Tren's races in Piru. Our state crit champs is Sep 12th. We'll still offer the USCF races in Oct-Nov-Dec, then 2011 starts up again. As some of you can tell, we've tried to upgrade our Insider's Club by going from bib numbers to frame numbers. With the HD camera, I think that we can use Avery Label Makers and adhere them to our shoulders or forearms! As long as I have racers that support what I'm doing, I will continue to improvise & improve local racing for the local racer.

The Bad:
For all of those that have seen the switch from truck/5th wheel trailer to big 'ol van....that is a 2-edged sword. On one side, it's great for containing all the tables, chairs, tents, speakers, barricades, cones & stuff for promoting. The other side of the coin? It's great for sleeping, camping, and being off the grid for months at a time. There's more than enough room for my bike, my clothes, my generator, my coffee maker, my go bag, my computer, my books, and my cooler...thus prompting me to my next paragraph!

The Ugly:
Eventually, I will stop bike race promoting. Ten years ago, I started where Marilyn finished. I'm not sure how much longer I will promote, but after this year's El Dorado support, I must now face the future. The brunt of the revenue comes from bike racing, but where I truly make a profit is from trading stocks (buying lower than what I bought it for & holding onto high yield quarterly dividend stocks), and I have the IRS tax returns to back it up. Trading stocks is part-time, and I can do that in Yosemite, British Columbia, Bryce Canyon-wherever I am. Bike race promoting is at a fixed location, but stock trading's done wherever I have bars on my cell phone. Whether I'm done promoting in 2011, 2012, 2013 depend on the local racers. Right now, I'm making 7%/year from Verizon stock dividends.

Coming up in the next blog entry...a cute story on Brad Hunter & how there is one less butt for him to kiss, my personal experience with the Side Street Cafe in Los Olivos (not good), and a book review on Censored 2010.

Why organized religion is LAME....

2010-08-26T05:33:00.000-07:00

2,000 years ago, no one could explain science. 2,000 years ago, they needed a way to keep people in line, kinda like the way it's done with kids...all-knowing, all-seeing Santa Claus will know if you've been bad or good. Tell the masses that some higher, all-knowing being is watching our every move so you better be good or else you won't get to the good place but you'll be banished to the bad place. Those towelhead, camel jockey, rug pilots that put 2 planes into the Trade Center believed that 72 virgins were on the other side. What do we believe: pearly gates, puffy white clouds & a devil in the Southern Hemisphere? Really?

You know those wacky religions where they hold snakes & sh*t and speak all crazy? Those inbreds make moonshine, rarely get out of the 5th grade and ain't none of them holdin' a Masters or a PhD. But hell's bells, if they wanna practice that in this country-let 'em. As long as they ain't hurtin' nobody. But here's the problem with those peeps...they point up in the sky and say, "big silver bird," and then you correct them and say "airplane." Now, you're the bad guy 'cuz you messin' wit them.

To the closed mind, nothing gets in. I'm more evolutionist than creationist, but I'm open to switching sides if the argument's compelling. That whole 'faith' thing and seeing the virgin Mary in a half-eaten twinkie...nah, that's for the Deliverance crew.

I'm not sure how to start, so I'll just go ahead and

2010-08-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

begin. Our American history is filled with bad choices, mainly: how we effed over the Indians, how we effed over the Africans, and how we effed over women. America took land that didn't belong to them, America made people slaves, and America denied women the right to vote. Fortunately for me, I do not & cannot own any of that because that was well before my time - even my ancestors cannot own that history because my family tree didn't hit Ellis Island until the early 1900s.

What I can own is this: I believe that same-sex marriages should be just as legal as opposite sex marriages. It's time has come and for the Religious Right to banter on in its opposite is reminiscent of those who opposed the Emancipation Proclamation or the 19th Amendment.

People are taking time out of their day to debate this, really? Our economy is in the toilet, Americans are losing their jobs & homes right & left and this is what people choose to focus on? Really? Must our nation endure world-wide embarrassment by dragging it feet on this? Truth be told, gentle & sensitive reader, I don't care who you are banging if you are not banging me. I don't put a lot of thought into it because it doesn't affect my day-to-day operations. We need to focus on more important issues. We, as a nation, cannot succeed in an Oligarchy. We cannot have a nation of waiters, car washers & housekeepers while one corporation controls it all. When a large, successful American corporation pays ZERO taxes, there is something very wrong. Currently, the ratio of highest paid employee (CEO) to lowest paid worker is near 315:1 - during the Great Depression, the ratio was around 30:1...there are bigger things to worry about than marriage discrimination.

New/better changes to CBR race results....click pix to enlarge & view

2010-08-08T17:22:00.001-07:00

While the official, who is inside the van scoring the race, the racers can now observe their finish immediately following the race. We will attempt to eliminate the 15-minute protest period as we want all finishers to observe what is scored. It's an HD camera and an HD television and the numbers are easily identified (as long as they are properly placed). The only glitches to this is if a racer does back-to-back racing and cannot be there to protest. Those racers will either have a teammate or a friend as their representative after the finish. I'll be bringing the setup to El Dorado as well as IGP this week. I hope this makes it better for the finishers!

Adbusters issue #91 September/October 2010

2010-08-06T05:00:00.000-07:00

Land of the Free!
This story deals with cocaine:
Nearly all cocaine is produced in Columbia, Peru & Bolivia
USA consumes 300 metric tons, 1/2 of total supply
90% of all cocaine passes thru Mexico
Alberto Giordano, Narco News: "The coca plant isn't produced in Mexico. Mexico is merely the straw that connects the South American refineries to the Gringo's nose."
Annual profit in transporting cocaine: $10,000,000,000

10 billion is important because that's what the cartels are fighting for, each itty bitty cartel is fighting for that 10 billion, and just like any gang - they are trying to make a name for themselves by making themselves more violent than the next cartel. You can hire someone to kill for $100. "Mexican Stew" is what they call bodies disposed of in vats of acid. The annual death count is 23,000 but the numbers are higher. 23,000 are only the bodies they find.

The key to ending this violence, the key to eliminating the cartels is legalization. Tax it, regulate it. Allow law enforcement and the courts to focus on real crimes: rape, robbery, murder. The War on Drugs is over: we lost the war. America wins a battle here & there, but the war has been lost. Drugs are in the same column as cigarettes & alcohol. Tax the crap out of it and regulate it. Prevent by educating the young as we do with smoking & booze. In this country, I have every right to smoke a pack a day and to drink a bottle of Stoli. We, as a county, should be smart enough to stop fighting losing battles.

Greg LeMond's blog entry: doping & those we love

2010-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Click here for Greg LeMond's blog: doping & those we love.

I read Sam Abt's book about LeMond, and from that point on, I've been a huge fan of him ever since. I'm also a huge fan of his wife, Kathy, because she's stuck with him thru thick & thin. Like any marriage, they have their ups & downs, but it was LeMond who broke ground for American cyclists to race in Europe, and it wasn't easy.

Greg LeMond is not the kind of man who would divorce his wife & kids, and he's certainly not the man who would break up with a woman suffering from breast cancer. Any woman who thinks Lance is a stand-up guy should consider dating Mel Gibson or Chris Brown. What's that old phrase, "those who marry for money earn it."

ABC's Nightline about Lance Armstrong....

2010-07-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

ABC Nightline on Hulu

Regarding investigations and attempting to identify who's more truthful in a he said/she said debate, there is one thing that helps swing the divining rod...WHO has more to gain by maintaining the lie or WHO has more to lose if the lie is uncovered. The second-most important item to uncover is the motivation of the liar(s).

In this example, there's Frankie & Betsy Andreu on one side of the fence and then there's Lance Armstrong on the other side of the fence...there is no gray area: you either believe Lance or Betsy. Now, what do Frankie & Betsy have to gain by lying? What does Lance Armstrong have to gain by lying? What's the motivation behind Frankie & Betsy? Well, they didn't want to tell anyone - they were forced to testify in a deposition, no book deals, no movie deals, no pro contracts - in fact, one could say that their future was forever altered (not in a good way) after being forced to testify. Now, what does Lance have to lose if the lie is uncovered? Who is more motivated to lie? We all understand why Lance would lie, but why would Frankie & Betsy lie? What do they have to gain by lying, and let me take it a step further, why would they commit perjury (lying under oath) - a felony, just to maintain a lie about Lance???

In the 12 years of interviewing liars, there's a HUGE difference between these two statements...see if you can pick out the loophole (deceptive) statement versus the complete (truthful) statement:
1) I have never used performance-enhancing drugs. (typical non-doper quote)
2) I have never tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. (typical Lance quote)

Maybe this makes it easier to identify:
1) I have never been arrested
2) I have never been convicted of a crime

Someone told me Thursday that Lance had to recently hire a criminal attorney. I don't think Frankie & Betsy have had the need to hire one. On that note, some ex-pro told me in March that the reason why no one would hire Frankie is because he talked too much, and this ex-pro wanted me to receive the same message (that no one gonna wanna hire me cuz I talk too much). Probable the wrong way to come at me 'cuz I'm not one for taking advice from such an ex-pro.

Needless to say, I'd ride alongside Frankie before I'd ride next to Lance any day. I got my own Lance Armstrong story-Tour of the Unknown Coast, 1990.

What would you say if I won the Tour de France 7 times, claimed to never dope, but every racer placing 2nd or 3rd during my 7 TdF wins either admitted

2010-07-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

to doping or were disciplined for doping? Would you say that I raced clean? Would you say that my "drug-free" training was able to overcome racers who used drugs? Would you also say that Frankie and Betsy Andreau are liars? What about those Trek bikes? Those unaccounted-for Trek bikes were sold for private, off-the-radar funding of what, a civil war in Central America?

Anyone who believes anything, hook - line - and sinker - should go back to burying their head in the sand. Be the one who questions. Be the contrarian, be the dissenter....that's what you are allowed to do in this country - for now. Ask yourself the questions that others are afraid to ask. Do not go to your grave a coward by being afraid to stand where the majority does not.

It seems that everybody is so busy trying to befriend well-known/doped up bike racers that they turn a blind eye towards the illegal act itself. Where is that line drawn? If it's okay to be best buddies with dopers, then what about child molesters? What about bank robbers, rapists, or murderers? "I killed puppies & blind children because I was going thru a bad time in my life, but that's in the past - don't you judge me - you don't know what I've been thru!"

I'll tell you this much, I don't break bread with people who put steriods up their kazoo to win Olympic Medals, I don't share beers with drug dealers from the '80s, and I most certainly would not ride alongside some EPO cheater in a paceline. Unfortunately, I discriminate who I hang with. Yes, that makes my circle smaller, and I'm totally fine with that; otherwise, I'd just compromise my value system and be all things to all people in hopes of being friends with everyone - no matter what they've done in their past.

TdF racer kicked out for the remainder of the 2010 race...Mark Renshaw

2010-07-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

First, thank goodness no one went down. Second, from the helicopter shot, Dean was coming into Renshaw's line. Third, the three (3) head-butts were a bit much. Fourth, he should have gotten kicked out for damn-near crashing Ferrar. He jumped from one side of the line and almost put Tyler into the barricades. Fifth, this is gonna set a bad example for local wanna-be sprinters because they'll see this crap and think it applies to a local crit....

Case in point-Ryan Scheider was quoted as saying to Dan Reback & Anthony Canevari at last week's eldo, "I'm not gonna take shit from anyone. I'm a sprinter." It's going to be pretty hard for Ryan to "sprint" if he keeps getting suspended by the USCF, because he won't have a home at my races. The last thing I need is some little shit upsetting the apple cart, and I'll be damned if he's the most hated Cat. IV (just upgraded to III) in the So Cal region. I've never seen a guy make as many enemies in such little time. I thought about downgrading him based upon his immaturity, but that would be unfair to the Cat. IVs & Vs. MJ showed INCREDIBLE restraint by merely coming up to Ryan and shaking his finger at him. Ryan's lucky that MJ didn't launch him into the 605 freeway. And what Ryan doesn't know is there's not one racer in that group that would have assisted Ryan.

YOUTH is wasted on the YOUNG...Ryan's already got problems being on a team, as he thinks he can be the unattached lone wolf just because he can sprint. I'm not denying his potential-he was able to out sprint Cat 4s, but the Elite categories are a bit different, and any real racer will tell you that elite sprinters need team support. Whether he's unattached because he's antagonized everyone in So Cal or he's unattached because no teams will have him remains to be seen. All I can say is that he's not on a team, and if he keeps up his attitude, no real team will have him. Ryan needs to have an "I found Jesus" experience - but assuming that his arrogance will get the best of him, then he'll easily dismiss these words-to-the-wise as unsolicited banter.

Kool N Fit crit post-race notes

2010-07-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

There are some days when I don't like bike race promoting. On those bad days, I ask myself why I don't just knock up some beastly Meg Whitman-type and compromise/cash out on easy $treet. One look at my face & body says that my personality is just a mere lottery bonus for those Meg Whitman types...Fortunately, today was not one of those days, and it was a good day to have a bike race. Amgen better give Meeker an Insider number for 2011...he got that $20 cash prime - he broke! :) And Kruger? Don't even get me started on that bum! He has GRAPES on his jersey! GRAPES!

Today didn't (even) feel like promoting, it was more like hanging out with good people, busting chops with those 5000% physically superior than me, and giving nice people a chance to compete in the sport they love. I feel very bad for Nelson, and I wish him a speedy recovery. He's been nothing but polite, competitive & a decent human being - it's too bad he crashed, but as with most racers, he will recover and he will return.

Today, local cycling missed Coxworth, Galvan, Padgett and a few others. Very, very few morons today...the one ass clown that was a jerk to Brian McCulloch - I know who you are! Not only is Brian a super nice guy, but he's got talent & class and he has my ear....and that reminds me, where the hell was Mark Love?

I'm very happy that Paige came out to race her first race. As nervous as she was, she faced it, suited up & pinned up - mostly that's half the battle. Christian, Marco, Paige, Deo, Shon, George, Jeff, Anthony, Bill, Julio & Nick gave up their entire day to assist in this race. These are the people that I will fall on my sword for as I am extremely indebted to them. I thank everyone who came out to support grassroots cycling.

To those racers like Lance & the racers from AZ - I appreciate them driving all the way from Vegas and Arizona & I'm really bummed that Danny Kam missed it 'cuz he didn't bring those cute little dogs, Cupcake & Creampuff. Rumor has it that he can sometimes cook food......Danny Kam's funny! He's this bum that can cook great food but he has a bike store...reminds me of Happy Gilmore: Happy's a hockey player that excels at golf.

Oh yeah - as far as I'm concerned, those Ranchos Skirts can go pound sand and sandbag those 3/4 fields until Aden forces them to upgrade...I'll put Cheryl Roth, Sonye, Pam, Priscilla, Leah, Diana up against them any day. Suzanne ain't gotta drive 400 miles to kick ass - she can stay local and kick their ass, and that will always give her the edge over those posers.

At the end of the day, the people who matter in local racing know who don't matter. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day, for spending the expense of gas & driving, and most of all - for voting for CBR with your biggest tool available...your wallet. In the next few days, I will be adjusting the AUG & SEP race flyers to reflect a 45-min race time for the women and an extra 10-min for the 40+ Masters...love begets love and as much as I piss off Suzanne, her words never fall upon deaf ears at CBR.

Why you should rent the movie Bottle Shock - especially if you like wine

2010-07-08T05:00:00.000-07:00

When this movie first came out, I could not have been more apathetic about it. A movie about wine, wine tasting, wine drinking? Yuck - BORING. In 1976, someone decided to challenge the French wines with California wines, but the movie is more about that. I identify moreso with challenges & adversity, and this movie has all of it. There's this scene where Bill Pullman's character has a "brown wine" experience, and most people on the planet will be able to identify with their own personal brown wine moment in their life. I highly, highly, highly advise watching this movie.

Now I don't have much of a palette, but what I do know is that I like my wines on the sweeter side, hence my waistline. The list I have compiled is for those that find my advice agreeable and also like their wines more sweet & less dry. Everyone's palette is different and for those that have not started this kind of journey in their lives, then I suggest you begin with a first step.

W I N E S to drink...google them:
Gloria Ferrer - Va de Vi
Artesa - 2008 Late Reserve Carneros Chardonnay
Artesa - 2008 Chardonnay Reserve Carneros
Artesa - 2008 Orange Muscat Late Harvest
Cakebread - 2009 Sauvignon Blanc
Cakebread - 2003 Chardonnay Reserve
Paraduxx - 2007 Howell Mountain
Paraduxx - 2007 Hooded Merganser
Duckhown - 2009 Sauvignon Blanc
Mt. Palomar Winery - Moscato
Bugey Cerdon
Bruschetta (sp?) D'Aqui
La Morandina - 2009 Moscato D'Asti
L'Avion - Vignoir
Foxen - Late Harvest Chenin Blanc
Bella - 2008 Late Harvest Zonfandel
Dry Creek Vineyard - 2006 Late Harvest Zinfandel
Ferrari-Carrano - 2008 Vignoir
Ferrari-Carrano - 2007 Chardonnay
Ferrari-Carrano - 2009 Pinot Grigio
Frick - 2008 Cisault Rose
Frick - 2007 Vignoir
Kachina - Port
Lambert Bridge - 2008 Sauvignon Blanc
Mauritson - 2008 Sauvignon Blanc
Mauritson - 2008 Chardonnay
Rued - 2009 Sauvignon Blanc
Rued - 2009 Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc

Last night's Eldo....

2010-07-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

It took the Elites only 11 miles to drop me. Thanks to Turtle for keeping me in there for one more extra lap...he saw me quit and motivated me to get back in. I was done after that, where I meekly waited for the Masters to sweep me and it the back I stayed until the finish...

I was happy to see that Ryan Barrett and his wife Kelly were there, as most of the Wilson family. They are huge Eldo supporters, always have been and I guess until I do something really really stoopid, always will.

The Masters have got to learn to stop screwing themselves, I swear, they are their own worst enemy. They ride sorta fast to catch the Cat 4/5s, and I forgot who I told, but I was in the back and said, "They're gonna be idiots if the guys up front try to bridge to the 4s with 1 lap to go." Sure enough, they shortened the distance, then did something that resembled a sprint. I think some wanted to take an extra lap, then they sprinted, then it was recorded. Consistency should be the vocabulary word for the day, either fast or slow.

ONLY 8 MORE EL DORADO RACES THEN IT'S HIBERNATION TIME!

Why CBR will always win and USCF will always lose (stoopid people-do NOT read this, you will not comprehend it)

2010-06-28T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love morons like Steve Johnson at USA Cycling because they simply do not "get" it. They implement some asinine policy meant to grow their monopoly and all it really does is piss off the locals because now, some rubber-stamp at SCNCA gotta do Steve's bidding blindly. If the SCNCA had any real balls, then they'd (~~consultation advise deleted because they ain't paying me to improve SCNCA~~).

Here's how it plays in the real world...a racer like Ted Rupp, Ryan Schneider, Anthony Canavari or John VanDyke has the necessary points to upgrade, so I upgrade them. In this example, I'll use Ryan. Ryan's now a Cat. III at CBR, so now he can race El Dorado, CBR BAR Series & Irvine Great Park with the Elite racers. Ryan's training intensity is increased because his competition is faster. But the USCF has him as a Cat. IV, so now all those Cat. IV racers still gotta compete with Ryan until the USCF pulls their collective head out of their ass.

This should really piss off the Cat. IV racers because Ryan's clearly in another racing category, and that's because CBR only upgrades those that can hold their own...IN OTHER WORDS...we know who our racers are because we see them race as much as three times a week. Those USCF morons might see Ryan once a week if they're lucky, probably once a month if they're officiating regularly.

My point is this: CBR racers who are destined for more elite categories will ALWAYS have an edge over their counterparts because they will hit the faster & longer distances first. So, to the racers that intentionally refuse to race at CBR races because Steve Johnson (thru SCNCA Greg Aden) has reciprocity heartburn...you are only hurting your own training because:

a) the best training is racing and

b) CBR's racers will always have 1st dibs on the better racing (i.e. FASTER) categories

John VanDyke - CBR upgraded him to I

Anthony Canavari - CBR upgraded him to II

Ted Rupp - CBR upgraded him to II

Ryan Schneider - CBR upgraded him to III

If the USCF doesn't recognize reciprocity, then they are effectively "dumbing down" those racers who have earned their racing category, and the USCF is hurting the sport of cycling when they force a Cat. II racer to race a Cat. IV crit. Dumb dumb dumb.

If I killed a pelican, I could be arrested, fined & jailed for felony animal cruelty but if I'm a huge oil corporation that's killed thousands...

2010-06-12T05:00:00.000-07:00

then I could earn stock option bonuses for delaying justice, fighting un-fightable issues in court while more animals die, while more people suffer and while making the ecology in the Gulf unsustainable.

I once had these friends of mine in the 1990s, Robert & Vicki Cherry. At the time, Vicki worked for an animal hospital & I busted her chops for having better relations with animals than with people. I was wrong then & now, and she was right all along. It seems that people are just nasty, little, lying cusses who destroy for self-serving interests. I now understand why she chose to put more time into animals than into humans....really, why bother? The picture above is the result of what happens when people in responsible charge shave expenses by failing to put proper safety precautions into place.

Cars would be cheaper if manufacturers weren't required to install seat belts, airbags, and brakes.....do you get it yet? The same concept applies to oil rigs, except that oil rigs can get around safety regulations (expensive & costly) by ensuring that idiot puppets are in charge of oil's regulatory agency, MMS.

This corporation is horrible, horrible, horrible...all they care is about making a profit...

2010-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

How fast would this oil spill be cleaned up if the CEO and the British Petroleum Board of Directors were arrested, personal assets frozen, and jailed?

Here are some highlights of this POS:
1) BP's lawyers forced employees (that didn't die on the exploded rig) to sign documents that stated they saw nothing and they were not injured.
2) Currently at Day 52, dragged their feet to show the leak in HD video.
3) Completely low-balled leak from initial 1,000 barrels a day to more truthfully 25,000 barrels a day.
4) Will attempt to invoke the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and limit the money spent to deal with their man-made disaster.

This corporation cares nothing to the people who live in the Gulf, the people who work in the Gulf, the wildlife that is dying in the Gulf, and they sure as hell don't care about transparency in the Gulf. They care about one thing: making money. They do this by short-cutting safety regulations (too expensive to implement) and having their lawyers delay, delay, delay.

Why should this British company's criminal negligence be coddled by American taxpayers? You think they're gonna reimburse the Louisiana National Guard, who's down there right now? You think they're gonna pay all those workers who were sidelined after this disaster? You think they're gonna pay for all of the Gulf clean up costs? Really? The a-holes are gonna fight, fight, fight because that's what their corporate a-hole attorneys tell them to do. Nobody, absolutely nobody does the right thing anymore.

These A-holes are spending FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS on advertising propaganda so that dumb-dumb Americans see some fantasy puff-piece that BP loves animals, loves America and is doing the right thing. What a crock of horseshit. They should use that $50,000,000 and start writing checks to those who are losing their livelihoods, those same people that will be in line to collect their unemployment, their welfare, etc. because BP's making them jump through every single legal loophole to be reimbursed for their losses. Not only should they write a check ASAP, but they should throw in extra for their time, trouble & frustration. They should have PETA, ASPCA & the US Humane Society and give them a blank check - that's the right thing to do.

Until a judge forcibly removes BP's checkbook and pen from their greedy hands, this will not be fixed. YOU CAN VOTE: DO NOT BUY ARCO GAS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AND TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW NOT TO BUY ARCO GAS.

Death threats upon a bike race promoter? Absolutely shocking...emails below are reverse chronology

2010-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

From: vncracing@hotmail.com
To: fevivancoss@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Hello
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:02:07 -0700

How many people have you killed? I don't want to play dumb, but I want to make sure that you're really good at your job. Did you ever mess up and just leave someone really hurt but not dead? If you must kill me, then I want to make sure you finish job good and complete, so no fooling around this time.

I must confess, I've been so afraid to walk out of the house because of your boss wanting me dead. I know you have a job to do and I'm thankful that you give me choice to pay you instead of dying. Please don't be mad, but I cannot use Western Union to transfer money to boss man. Western Union say I bounce check so I kicked off account. I have the money because I am very scared. All of the money is in pennies. You will need pickup truck to collect pennies, but please don't kill me. The pennies are shiny.

From: fevivancoss@hotmail.com
To: vncracing@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Hello
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 17:39:13 +0000
I had a conversation with my client who want to get you killed, i said to my self i wouldn't kill such an innocent person like you,when i saw your pictures i was shocked but it's my job to kill and get paid.My men have been instructed to stay around your home and watch you where ever u go and when ever u get back .So don't play dumb with me. u go send the money to me and use western union money transfer.That way i can pick up the money 30mins after you finish transferring it. I don't want any smart attitude or else u will make me turn my back at you and get you killed.Am watching you right even from your home,i will make sure you don't get killed cos i have betrayed my job by accepting funds from you in replacement of your life wish have been paid for by my client.
This is my address to send the money to.
* Name: charles patten
* Address: Avenida Carlotta Alesandri 109
City: Malaga 98828
Country : Spain
Text Question: To Whom
Text Answer: Friend
When u get the money sent get back to me with the Mtcn Control Number with the amount sent also with the sender's name..Then i will tell u where we will meet in person.No (CIA) OR(FBI) okay..Don't push me to what i wouldn't want to do.cos i have been paid to kill you...get back to me as soon as possible okay.The reason i want the funds to be paid to Spain.cos i don't want to leave any traces.
Your life is at risk

From: vncracing@hotmail.com
To: specter99159@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Hello
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 06:46:05 -0700

This is very shocking! I'll do what you say...how soon can I get you the money? I can't be killed because I have so much to live for. How should I pay you, in dollars or euros?

From: specter99159@hotmail.com
Subject: Hello
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 2010 00:14:14 +0000

Hello. This is the only way I could contact you for now,I want you to be very careful about this and keep this secret with you until I make out space for us to see. You have no need of knowing who I am or where I am from.I know this may sound very surprising to you but it’s the situation.I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer.It’s someone I believe you call a friend, I have followed you closely for a while now and your home location has made my job very easy but have seen that you are innocent of the accusations he leveled against you. Do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this to them,because if you do, I will know,and I might be pushed to do what I have been paid to do.Besides, this is the time I turn out to be a betrayer in my job.I took pity on you,that is why I have made up my mind to help you if you are willing to help yourself.

Now listen,I will arrange for us to see face to face,but before that, I need $15,000. I will come to your home or you determine where you wish we meet; I repeat, do not arrange for the cops and if you play hard to get, it will be extended to your family.Do not set any camera to cover us or set up any tape to record our conversation, my employer is in my control now. Payment details will be provided for you to make a part payment of $10,000 first,which will serve as guarantee that you are ready to co-orperate,then i will post a copy of the video tape that contains his request for me to terminate you which will be enough evidence for you to take any legal action against him before he employs another person for the job. You will pay the balance of $5,000 once you receive the tape.

Warning; do not contact the police, make sure you dont sleep with your two eyes closed until this whole thing is sorted out,if you neglect any of these warnings, you will have yourself to blame. You do not have much time, so get back to me immediately.

Note:I will advise you keep this to yourself alone, not even a friend or a family member should know about it because it could be one of them. Here is a private mail you can reach me fevivancoss@hotmail.com

For the first time, El Dorado was a money-loser last week....

2010-06-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of the many things that upset me is that the USCF demands the field size for upgrade points but they refuse to show the sizes in the results. This goes in-line with me that I have acknowledged my weaknesses, and last week's El Dorado was an all-time first.

Regrading upgrades, the Cat 5s (by USCF standards) must race a 20-minute criterium. El Dorado gives them an hour...for $10! This is a HUGE bargain when you see the entry fees they pay on the weekend. For the Cat. 4s, the USCF minimum is 30 minutes. Once again, El Dorado gives the entry-level racer 60 minutes. The USCF doesn't care about Masters, but the average crit time is 40-45 minutes...once again, El Dorado gives the Masters an hour.

For the last two years, our numbers have TANKED in the Cat. 4/5 and Masters on Tuesday. Partially recession, partially fee increase, partially this & partially that. At the end of the day, I must make command decisions in 1-yr, 3-yr, 5-yr windows. I'll do what I can to attract racers to my events, but does that mean El Dorado must be converted to a USCF permit, give the Cat 5 a 20-minute race, the Cat. 4 a 30-minute race, the Masters a 40-minute race, and the P/1/2/3 a 60-minute race...all for the low Tuesday cost of $20 (for permit fees, sanctioning fees, officials fees, travel fees, insurance fees, etc.) per racer?

There are some waves I can ride for an extended period, but riding a 3-yr wave might be too much. I don't write this to guilt people into racing because hell's bells, if the choice is to race or pay the phone bill, then that choice is easy. I say this because I want racers to have the information that I have.

There may come a day where I cannot afford Long Beach, as their fees are now compatible with coastal Orange County cities. If Tony Cruz & his family are still connected to Pat West, then maybe Pat West can give him a super-huge discount to run El Dorado on City property, paying USCF fees. Cruz & Associates is already feeling the weight of their Wednesday-night bike race, as having a weekly race series is a solid commitment - there are no sick days and no days off. Some will say that this is me crying, but this is me being forced to look at a window, not of my own choosing.

While I hope the situation improves, I must prepare for the worst and hope for the best. That being said, I hope to see everyone at Eldo tonight and at Dominguez Hills this Sunday...BAR Series Crit #6...yay!

If you believe the d-bag naysayers then you are doomed.....

2010-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

1) Doug Lowe: this is a guy that's hated on me since the early 1990s, even thought he cannot recall the specifics of what it was that I did and won't bring anything to my attention. His wife runs his life and is the household shot-caller. Apparantly, he didn't like the way my involvement in Velo Allegro back then, and he continues to hate on me this day. For the record, I was never a club officer and never received anything more than other club members (paltry entry fee reimbursement), except when I was in a 1990 Nor Cal training camp (some friend's house at elevation) and Mike Burk sent Roberto, Jonathan & me a care package of stuff to eat. Doug Lowe left Velo Allegro to join another team years ago but still does 16mph (training!) with Velo Allegro on weekends. If he doesn't like Allegro enough to renew his membership, then he should have the sack to ride with his own club...I don't think he'll ever have the sack to tell me what he really thinks, as he's been a milquetoast for an oil corporation for decades.

2) Randy Paik: this guy told me that the woman at registration (who could that be????) is a thief and a liar at our recently-held 2010 Memorial day crit! This is how it played out...Randy's been gone for 2 years & wanted to ask a buncha questions, making the line grow longer. One of his best questions was why couldn't he get a CBR license for $30, blah blah blah.

His version: he gave her $70 but didn't have enough for the Cat. 4 race, the 30+ 4/5 race and a CBR annual membership & would pay the difference later.

Her version: she gave him the member discount for both races and charged him only $40 instead of $41 just to get to the other racers waiting in line.

My version: I offered to resolve it & he just wanted to threaten me with how he was gonna tell everyone that she's a thief and a liar...over $30. She doesn't race, she doesn't need the $30 & makes a good living in her real job, and she REALLY doesn't need this kind of aggravation.

I think that Randy is a jerk who was just tried to run some scam in her haste to be efficient for those waiting in line. I think he lied about the amount of money he paid and I think if I ever looked deep into his past & present that she would be incredibly more credible than him. He can try to run his game at USCF, but I'm sure that Eric will read this & notify his peeps accordingly.

Troubling items in no particular order.....

2010-05-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

The 1st myth of being a USCF registered team: you are NOT required to promote a race to maintain your status. When Colorado Springs takes your USCF club/team registration money, there is nothing that the team director signed/agreed to that compels the team to promote a race. Just before you click "send money/debit account now," read the fine print...they just want your money. They want you to promote a race because they want more money from you. More races = more fees.

It's f*cking unbelievable: I want to put $15,000 into a 30+ masters category, and they're gonna tell me how I should pay it out??? It's my f*cking money so stay the f*ck out of my race! Unless they are fronting the cash purse, STFU. Don't (even) get me started on those NRC races. If you want to promote an NRC race, they want (even) way more money. Paying the USCF a bucket of money will give you the title of NRC race...wow. Then, they charge even MORE money for those officials ('cuz you're gonna need 100+ officials, most of them International Commissaires & paying them at the International Commissaire rate!).

What if I just save the money, put $25,000 into the Pro/1/2 category, advertise in VeloNews, facebook, websites, network with regional team directors, and bypass the NRC process? USA Cycling has become a bureaucracy of bullshit. When you sign up your race and pay their fees, they don't guarantee successful attendance, so if your race flails - you still pay 100% of their fees. They don't care, all they want is your money. Don't you get it????

If the person in charge doesn't have intelligent support staff, then their vision fails, whether it's USCF, Micro$oft, or the Edsel. USA Cycling CEO Steve Johnson is a no-nothing, bend-over desk jockey who contributes nothing to the sport of bike racing. Here's how it was explained to me: big national, corporate sponsors pour big money into Colorado Springs to find the next Lance.

Our $60 annual fee is supposed to cover local stuff all over the country. Here's how it really happens: Steve collects $200,000+/year to sit on his ass and shrink bike racing growth while they upgrade idiots to Cat. I based on ZERO points and "executive decisions." The millions of dollars that are poured into Colorado Springs [50,000 x $60 = $3,000,000]-just on some USCF renewals-never see the light of day by locals. Those millions are deposited into a black hole in Colorado Springs.

Without tipping my hand, Steve Johnson is losing a buttload of market share of Southern California racing events: the USCF is SHRINKING in Southern California because Steve Johnson cannot pull his head out of his own ass. Examples: Cyclocross events-ABR permit, Fiesta Island TT-ABR permit, Piru TT events-CBR permit, Rockstore TT-CBR permit, El Dorado-CBR permit, Irvine Great Park-CBR permit, Dominguez Hills crits-CBR permit.

Gentle & sensitive reader - before you start hating on me - please ask yourself this question: what has the USCF personally done for you? Has the CEO of USA Cycling ever given you the time of day, much less help your little corner of the world of bike racing? If you at least want to complain to the CBR CEO, all you need to do is to drive to Eldo on Tuesday and look for the angry fat man with the megaphone - he'll give you the time of day and make your cycling world better!

One newsworthy item and the other not so worthy.

2010-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

Worthy: My next crit, this Monday at Dominguez Hills, will allow military members to show their Active or Reserve ID cards and race for free...all day long. While Memorial Day honors those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, I want to show my appreciation for those that serve now. It's not so easy to intentionally stand in harm's way when called upon. If you read this and know of a racer/soldier, then please let him or her know that they get a free ride on Monday, and then thank them for their service to their country!

Not so worthy: Floyd Landis and his drama. "I was a liar then but believe me now." Unless you lived under a rock in the cycling community...enough said. It sounds like he gave enough details for federal investigators (as I doubt) but if true, would be unlikely to remove a private plane off the books. Time will tell. The racers that didn't dope went to Europe and returned to US racing. Ferchrist, we still have local morons doping in their attempt to win a used water bottle...may their future cancers be wrought with open sores.

We should all be blessed that we are allowed to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, or else they would not be able to afford a white gold Mercedes

2010-05-20T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I hope to buy one day, but only at $6.00/gallon of gas once UAE jacks the price of the BP spill. Weren't most of the 19 hijackers (of 9/11) from Saudi Arabia?

I guess oil prices are not high enough because they have yet to special-order a platinum Mercedes. My thing is this: this country's still in a recession, America doesn't really build anything in America anymore except Airstream trailers, Stickley furniture and some cars. Everything else is made in China, thus poisonous (toothpaste, dog food, drywall, paint, etc.).

There's no need to give Saudi Arabia our money-they hate us & America's decision in allowing the female species to learn, to vote, to wear revealing clothing, and to walk alongside a man (instead of the usual ten paces behind). You know how they divorce in that country? The guy wants a new wife, so he accuses the old wife of cheating, then they stone her to death so the guy is free to re-marry.

I start on one topic and meander my way to another topic...enjoy the picture, and know that every time we buy gas, we are able to help another Saudi Prince buy a white-gold Mercedes.