Thanks to everyone who high-fived this old dog after he hit the VeloDoor a-runnin’.
Mostly a scribe doesn’t hear from the readership unless he’s managed to piss them off somehow. This will certainly come as a surprise to longtime readers, but despite my gentle demeanor I myself have received the odd bit of criticism for an occasional lighthearted, vicious attack on All We Hold Dear. So to read all these cheerful comments on my New Year’s Day post really made my day. Kicked 2012 off on a high note.
Today I had planned to celebrate my deeper embrace of underemployment with a long ride, but quickly got tangled up in e-mails, phone calls and social media. So instead Herself and I went for a short run in a nearby park.
It was the kind of January day the Greater Bibleburg Chamber of Commerce wishes it could bottle and sell at single-malt prices — beautiful blue skies, temps in the 40s and nearly windless — and we discussed strategies for moving forward as we … well, moved forward. Very, very slowly. Ask anyone who’s seen me run. So stay tuned.
Meanwhile, the Old Guy Who Gets Fat In Winter is still very much alive, as is the Mud Stud, who hangs around Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. And if you prefer bicycle travel to industry news, I crank out the occasional piece for Adventure Cyclist magazine, too. Thanks to Marc Sani and Mike Deme for keeping kibble in the dish.
But for pure filth — rock-bottom, unadorned snark — this is the place to be.
So thanks again for getting the gags, and I toast each and every one of you. May the road rise up to meet you in a fashion that does not require cosmetic facial surgery.
Mad Blog Media 
Maybe you cn help me write my memoirs?
Do I get to make stuff up and use dirty words? You know my methods. …
So no to the cookbook and move to the Food Network path?
Sharon, I’m not particularly creative in the kitchen … mostly I just follow other people’s recipes, though I occasionally make alterations.
Weird, huh? I wonder if it’s because I came to cooking relatively late in life. Maybe if I’d taken it up as a kid I’d be a little freer in the kitchen. But how many baby-boom moms were teaching their male children how to cook in the Sixties? Mine sure wasn’t.
Occupy Bicycling.
HI Patrick
If you have retained all of your copyrights, you might want to consider doing a kickstarter project to market the various jerseys that you have authored over the years. It worked for the guys who do the Yehuda Moon comic.
That way you would have all the product presold before having to spend any of your own cash. Take the plunge, be an on-tre-pre-noor.
Why?
Because I really really want a new Old Guys racing team jersey in the original yellow.
Keep up the good work and if you can stomach a frontier whiskey try some Bulleit Bourbon. Smooth
John L.
Hi, John. Wow, when did all the smart people start hanging around here? Did y’all get lost on your way to Red Kite Prayer? I like your idea, and I’ve been seeing a lot of bikey folks using Kickstarter lately, so I’ll definitely look into it.
I’ve also been contemplating a collection of BRAIN/VeloNews columns, self-published and made available in dead-tree and electronic formats, but I don’t know whether that notion has legs. Too much of my crap has been time-sensitive and thus had a short shelf life.
I too need a jersey -old guys get even fatter…please.
Yes to a new Old Guys jersey and the optional internal pockets for stuffing. I so want to look like the FB at the top of this here blog entry.
The possibility of even slight snark in an Adventure Cycling bike test, well it’s a new era for cycle touring reportage at ACA.
You’ll move forward just fine. Slow is good.
Hey, Yeah! I’d like a Old Fat Guy jersey, too!
Congradulations on your newly found freedom!
Bob, from Carson City
Belated congrats on the ship-jump.
It has served to remind me to thank you for opening my eyes to Adventure Cycling. I’ve always been aware of bike touring, just not that there was a magazine/organization devoted to it. So I asked the better half for a membership for Crimmus and done is done. So please get to writing some bits for them so that I may enjoy.
Thanks for everything and here’s to a hellaciously good 2012.
Thanks, Barry. I was unaware of Adventure Cyclist too, until a couple years ago, when editor Mike Deme pinged me out of the blue to ask if I was interested in writing up one of the Adventure Cycling Association’s tours.
That piece worked out OK, we got along, and this past fall Mike paid my way to Interbike, and I got to meet him and the rest of the crew. Good folks each and every one, and a great organization. Welcome aboard.
My old friend, colleague and fellow Velo-refugee Charles Pelkey just wrote a review of the Novara Randonee for Adventure Cyclist — that should be in the February issue, if memory serves. I’ll be writing up a Pashley Clubman and a Bike Friday New World Tourist in two subsequent issues. Hope you enjoy ’em all.
I’ll be looking forward to the articles from CP as well as yourbadself.
My entry into touring started when my friend who owns a bike shop mentioned a desire to cross the country by velo. I’d always wanted to do it, but he has always laughed at any mention of touring; so I was pretty surprised at this revelation.
Anyway, I had an old Fuji Touring from the 80s I’d been using as a daily commuter and now it’s back to it’s original intentions with Campy 8 spd on the back and my mtb cranks on the front. I took it out for a 260 mile round trip as a maiden voyage back in October and it mostly went well. I’m hoping to try some more shorter tours this winter/spring. Hopefully the trans-america comes to fruition in a couple years- unless the Mayans were right of course.
Yep. More of Those Other Yellow Jerseys sounds like a good idea. Count me in.
I’ll buy one off the rack if that rack ever sees the light of day. I can pay for it with the money that I’ll save when I don’t renew my Velo subscription.
Velo is starting to look like yet another case of killing something off in order to “save” it.
Zots. I’m sure CGI doesn’t think it is killng Velo. Its all about the stockholders. No on up top probably cares about what readers think until it affects the bottom line. CGI is not a job creator. Its a profit making business. Employees are costs, not benefits. In Mitt Romney or CGIs world, jettisoning an employee is not a problem unless the fat cats feel it.
I think you’re right Khal, the “new golfers” seem to like the content at Velo.com, such that is is…especially when they can rip the authors and demonstrate their incredible (lack of) knowledge on most subjects via the comments feature. It’s really turned into a “journal of competitive shopping” there. But as I remember from the early daze of the triathlon mania, these folks were tuned into the commercial/marketing aspects of that “sport” from the start. Of all the print publications I dealt with in SoCal, these folks demonstrated passion for profit over any passion for sport. They’re probably making money hand-over-fist these days and will keep on crankin’ until suddenly it all goes up in smoke like the SoCal housing market.
I really miss the Friday’s Foaming Rant. I hope that someday, whether on your MDM page, in print, or over the innertubes, the Rant returns. It would be a welcome sight!
Happy New Year!
Thanks, Dan. I ceased the Velo-rants for a couple of reasons.
First, there’s something about doing production work that depresses my desire to write. I learned this in 11 years as a newspaper copy editor, when I wrote hardly a line under my own byline. By the time I bailed on VeloNews I had pretty much turned back into a full-time copy editor, though I was also writing some race reports; a lot of what you saw wearing the byline “VeloNews.com” was my doing.
Second, management seemed so careless with the website that it seemed silly to give them anything I considered valuable. It felt like preparing a delicious meal for some thoughtless yahoo who would just shovel it in with one hand while texting someone under the table with the other, then leave you to do the dishes.
I write a column for Bicycle Retailer and Industry News that has many aspects of the old rant, but that mag’ is strictly for the trade (you may be able to find a tattered copy in your local shop’s bathroom). And of course I’m always raving about something around here.
But I’m looking for other opportunities to write, too, so who knows? The rant may reappear yet.
Any chance of joining Red Kite, Patrick? Or for that matter, monetizing your own web site and putting stuff on it to actually put kibble in the dog dish? Seems to me you might be able to write fer yer own by-line rather than for the Vulture Capitalists.
What the cycling community needs is a decent cycling magazine that hasn’t put shopping ahead of riding. I wonder if a consortium of writers/riders, cycling instructors, racers, etc. could put enough prose in a straight line to make it work.
K, I haven’t approached Padraig at Red Kite Prayer, though he’s aware of my circumstances.
Like everyone else, he has a limited budget, and I don’t want to put him in the uncomfortable position of having to say, “Sorry, dude. …” Plus it’s such a classy operation over there. Adding me to the mix might be like having your drunken Uncle Buster pissing into the punchbowl at a garden party.
As to monetizing my own site, the free WordPress setup does not permit advertising. I’d have to go back to a self-hosted WP model, which would entail a bit more work and a monthly hosting fee.
Actually, the previous editions of Mad Dog Media — version one and version two — remain up and running, and I’m already paying that tab. But it might be better to start afresh, as I don’t much like that hosting company. And I do know some top-notch ad salespeople, so that may be an option down the road.
What is a garden party without an Uncle Buster?
Well, for starters, the punch tastes better. …
I’ve said elsewhere on the internet that being having a “that guy” at the party is always comforting from me. If someone else is him, then that means it ain’t me; and that’s a good thing.
Reminds me of something. Back in grad school, we used to have a supply of 100% ethanol (not denatured) for experiments in my adviser’s Experimental Petrology Lab, the place where we synthesized and cooked rocks and minerals. During the Dept. Christmas Party, inevitably one or more of those pint bottles of pure EtOH would end up in the punch. For the unsuspecting, that was quite the turbocharged trip to Tipsyland.
Um…Khal…where exactly did you go for grad school? Just curious, that’s all.
But I could use an M.S. It would make my unemployment all that much more enjoyable.
I just fired velo news, it’s no longer in my computer.
Came to this post via a tweet by Charles and like “bromasi” do not visit velonews.com !
Perhaps you will take a look at my blogs via : http://www.parrabuddy.blogspot.com !
Question is whether the ” chip-in ” for Charles is continuing , as originally it was closing 25th Dec ?
Best wishes to all for 2012 !
Wow! Have I been out of the loop. Just read the big news. Congrats, PO’G! I know that no matter what it is I’m doing, I always feel better when I stop doing it.
So right about now I suspect the Id is feeling mighty fine, but the Superego is starting to nag something fierce, eh? Well, since you might just need a rational argument in support of what you’ve already done (not that it would make any difference), and since you probably have time on your hands, might I recommend an upcoming hour of listening time be devoted to our Freakonomics friends as they discuss the “upside of quitting”: http://www.freakonomics.com/2011/09/30/new-freakonomics-radio-podcast-the-upside-of-quitting/
Oh, and put me down for one of those “Old Guys…” jerseys. Extra Large, of course.
Well it looks like a lotta people want some swag, sooooooo,I’ll buy
Hey Patrick – I did the improbable today. I removed Velonews.com from my bookmarks. Never thought the day would come. But CGI has destroyed it.