I have seen most of these pictures before but today when I heard a song by The Pogues on the radio I had to go back and check them out. Big mistake… These seem like the quintessential pictures that you would show your kids when they are considering hitting the road with a band instead of going to college. That or not brushing their teeth. I mean Jesus H, I had heard that Shane MacGowan had crap oral hygiene but it turns out he has nothing left to worry about - all of his teeth are f'n gone.

I'm not sure how this guy ever made it to 50 years old but damn it he did make it. How did he make it this far? According to him, it was all the drinking, smoking and partying. Case in point:

Social networking is fun but if you use lots of networks it can be a hassle/time suck as well. Thank goodness everyone seems to agree with me and there are more and more way to have one network pull updates from others.

My most recent discovery is Flickr2Twitter. I have had a Flicker account for ages but since I usually post all my pictures on my own web site I never used it. Now I do. If you sign up for Flickr2Twitter you get a unique email address and any picture you send to that address will be posted to your Flickr account and a link will be sent to your Twitter page. You can provide a description and tags using the subject and body of your email message.

And of course there is also the Twitter app for Facebook so you can have your Facebook page pull all your Twitter updates.

The end result is I can take a picture with my phone, send it to my Flickr2Twitter address and update three social networking sites at once. That kind of efficiency is something I can really get behind.

Recently the Seattle Post Intelligencer had to close it's doors. This was just the next in an ever growing list of print newspapers that have had to compete with similar 'free' services on the Internet.

The Associated Press has been fighting the dissemination of news via these free sources and it's going to lose. The cat is already out of the bag, the horse has already left the barn; pick any metaphor you want because it's too late to turn back the clock now and restrict the Internet.

Saul Hansell wrote a nice piece for the New York Times stating that the AP's real enemies are its customers. I agree.

I had to get Cameron to show me how to use Windows Movie Maker in order to create this…

I'm riding up the Denny Creek road on day one of the 2009 Courage Classic. Trying to film while riding is fun. The second bit is me rolling into the finish at Suncadia.

The other day at work while in a meeting a co-worker called me the Anthony Bourdain of the iSchool. :| They said I was outspoken, hip and sarcastic.

Of course I'm not as skilled, have much less professional experience, am not as well travelled and for sure I'm not as hip but hey, I'll take it.

I think it was the tall, skinny thing to be honest  but who am I to hold someone back when they are paying me a compliment…

Every time I go for a ride that is picture worthy I bring my camera. And so naturally I'm more likely to be behind the camera than in front of it. Now I'm not some sort of vain camera whore or anything but I like to document stuff and 'stuff' includes me so any time someone else takes a picture of me - be it on the bike or off - I love getting copies.

Last Friday I was racing at the track and when I got back to work on Monday there was a message in my inbox from a co-worker. Turns out her brother was in town and just happened to be at the track to watch some bike racing and to play with his camera.

When he heard the announcer mention my name it rang a bell (seems my co-worker had told him I raced bikes and that I did so on the track) and since he was playing around with the low light conditions anyway he squeezed off a few shots. He sent these to his sister and she sent them along to me. Nice.

I love Craig's List! Just when you think you have found all the gems up pops another. This one came from a co-worker (thanks Nick!) and I am in f'n tears after reading it:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/sea/1192150038.html

Having worked in the bike biz for 15 years I sympathize with so much of this… And with quips like, "I also want a unicorn to blow me.", how can you go wrong? You can't; that was rhetorical. Now read this. And laugh. Hard. Then go for a ride and revel in the elitism that is second nature to all experienced or wannabe experienced cyclists.

Today one of the most amazing cyclists in the world won yet another race. Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli won the French National TT championship and in so doing added her 56th national title to her palmares.

Oh yeah, did I mention that she is FIFTY YEARS OLD? And still spanking women half her age. Amazing.

Just for fun let's compare Jeanie to a well know, perennial American powerhouse: Kent Bostick (just because he's also 50, sponsored and was covered all the time in VeloNews back in the day).

Hello…! Is there any doubt?

Too often we lose track of why we ride or race and when someone like this comes along you have to know that they simply love what they do. Sure, it might be a bit obsessive at times and they might not have any children but hey, respect worthy without a doubt.

Two years ago Jeannie was described as the best cyclist in history that gets the least recognition. I agree.

I've been following Joe Friel on Twitter for a few days now and every damn day he says pretty much the same thing.

"Montrose to Crested Butte, CO. Long day in saddle. TSS 292."

At first it did not even realize he was using an acronym and them I'm like, what the hell does TSS mean? So I looked it up:

Training Stress Score (TSS) - The TSS represents a calculated number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single score of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that session. One hour of functional threshold (as hard as you can go for one hour) = 100 Training Stress Score points.

Welcome to the new world. At one point you could just sort of rely on your breathing and how labored it was. Then came heart rate which was quickly eclipsed by power. And now there is TSS.

Shit. Soon you won't be able to exercise without toting along a CPU. Oh wait, that's already happening…

"How was your ride honey?"

"Well, my TSS was 255…"

Nice.

For all the problems that Twitter has faced recently with the system slowdowns, lack of delivery, spam, etc. it still does one thing really well and that is let you keep up with those that use it.

And really, isn't that what it's all about? I recently went on a binge of sorts and sought out all the professional cyclists I admire and began following them. Know what? It's really cool to read about their daily trials and tribulations. People like Robbie McEwen who is coming back after yet another horrific crash was just out and managed 1.5 hours on the bike and did 200 m at 45 km/hr.

It's heartening. It's interesting. It's educational. It's a huge time suck. But it's also a ton of fun.

Oh yeah, unless you have a cell plan with unlimited texts, perish the thought of sending updates to your mobile device for everyone you follow… good grief. I only get updates for my real friends now and view the rest via the web.

Good stuff for sure.