Rock’s not dead! Just brain-damaged

Flowers that reared their pretty heads a bit early found themselves bowed by the weight of our most recent snow.
Flowers that reared their pretty heads a bit early found themselves bowed by the weight of our most recent snow.

Tyler Hamilton isn’t the only Rock Racing rider to find himself suddenly unemployed. Apparently homeboy Mike Creed is hunting work, too, and not of his own volition — renowned disco-denim maven and working-class hero Michael Testicle showed him the door on April 14, according to nyvelocity.com.

Mike chatted with Steve Frothingham of VeloNews.com this morning, and you can read Steve’s account of their conversation here. That Mike’s former employer continues to stump for a riders’ union is not unlike a tomcat proposing a Society for the Protection of Plump, Juicy and Delicious Little Songbirds.

While he apparently has an offer to race next month’s Joe Martin Stage Race with another team, Mike told me via e-mail that further on down the road he’s thinking about leaping from the titanium frying pan of pro cycling into the Sterno stove of velo-journalism, perhaps with a podcast or Internet radio show. While he considers his options, there’s at least one bright side in being jobless in this sport, in this economy — he won’t have to wear that ugly-ass Schlock Racing kit any more.

Here in Bibleburg, meanwhile, the Storm of the Century mostly passed us by. It snowed all damn’ day yesterday and left maybe three inches, tops. But it’s heavy, wet stuff, and the foliage will appreciate it. Some 75 miles southwest and a couple thousand feet higher among the hillbillies of Crusty County, my man Hal Walter reports five times as much of the white stuff surrounding the world headquarters of Hardscrabble Times and recalls a pair of earlier April storms.

Down here, it’s raining lightly — “a driving rain,” as my man Dr. O’Schenkenstein said. And he should know, because he just spent two hours riding in it. The man himself just appeared at my doorstep, looking as though he had been dipped in shit, and taunted me for cowering indoors like the feeble geezer I am. He has been watching old Paris-Roubaix videos, which will give a man notions.

The calm before the storm

Hail. With thunder. And sunshine. Must be April in Bibleburg.
Hail. With thunder. And sunshine. Must be April in Bibleburg.

The weather gods toy with us, like cats: a dash of rain; a soupçon of hail; a low grumble of thunder in the distance. I think I’ll bring the snow shovel indoors tonight so I can find it tomorrow morning. And check the bucket under our roof leak. And fill a couple coolers with ice as a redundancy system for our ‘fridge, which followed the rest of our appliances into early retirement just in time for what’s shaping up like the Storm of the Year. Jesus H. Christ on a flatcar. We need to find us some oil ’round here so’s we kin get us’ns a big ol’ Beverly Hills mansion with a cee-ment pond and appliances that work.

I got in a quick hour on the ‘cross bike this morning while the weather remained semi-springlike. Started out the door with short sleeves, arm warmers and knickers, then reversed direction and added layers; long-sleeve polypro, long-sleeve jersey, full-finger gloves. The NWS said 50-something, but it was not a dry heat.

Thanks to a relentless north wind, the ride was reminiscent of my first race back in 1987, a 40km out-and-back time trial near Strasburg, Colorado — 10 mph out, 30 mph back. I actually checked at one point to see whether I had a brake rubbing. Nope. Wind + lard = 10 mph.

Afterward, it was off to Ranch Foods Direct to stock up on dead animal parts for various soups, stews and whatnot to fend off the cold. That’s how I discovered our out-of-warranty Kenmore was on the blink — by loading $50 worth of meat into a lukewarm ‘fridge. I briefly considered cooking everything at once to keep it from spoiling, but then my cranial 20-watt bulb blinked on — uh, so where do you store the cooked food, Mr. Magic Chef, huh? I will never be smart.

But I can be less stupid. Via the miracle of the cell phone I consulted Herself, who reminded me that Larry’s Appliance had solved a number of issues with the Kenmore without having to resort to big hammers, voodoo or a second mortgage. Rang ’em up, and it just so happened that they had a cancellation and could come over straight away. One bum circulating fan and $112.84 later, the ingredients for posole, vegetable beef soup and a kung pao stir fry are cooling down nicely.

As is the outdoors. Hail again, with lightning this time. I’m off for the snow shovel.