On Being Reborn

Okay, so here's the deal. I was thinking of making this a private diary, but I have a better idea. I am renaming things and changing philosophy.

First and foremost, no more anonymous postings. I allow people to post "anonymously" in the sense that you do not need a Google user ID, but if you post without your name, I delete. You have an opinion, good for you, but you better damned well be willing to put your name behind your opinion if you want me to even read it.

Two I am going to rant, you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. I need an outlet and guess what, this blog is my outlet. I piss you off, that's wonderful, write me an email, phone me, or if you are going to post something here be damned sure you want the whole world to read it. This is my space and I get to say what I want, how I want. Sometimes I am evening going to be offensive without meaning to be, and that's just life!

For example, apparently I insulted Georg's home, judging by his last comment I insulted it when I saw it from the end of his driveway as we moved my things from his car to the taxi. Here's a dirty little secret, we had been on the road from about 10am Sunday morning in Duluth MN until, oh 2am Monday morning in Toronto by that point, and guess what, I still had an hour of taxi riding ahead of me. I was so punchy I am pretty sure you could tell me I was reciting Shakespeare and I wouldn't know it. But I do recall he was giving me a tour of his neighbourhood and I knew enough to stay silent and hope it would end soon so I could get to bed. I am pretty sure besides the standard, "nice house" and "good night" I didn't say much of anything at all. His voice was horse and my throat was dry, so how he claims I insulted his home, well I honestly don't know, but then like I said, I could have said anything, I really don't remember that clearly.

Anyway none of that matters anymore. What matters is this, this is my space, where my opinions live. I may be detestable at times, I may be lovable at others. I will whine, I will rant, I will even say nice things, when I am not feeling like the curmudgeon that I usually am. But if you don't like what I have to write you shouldn't read my blog. If you don't like what I have to say, tell me to my face. But if you don't have the balls to face me and say "Michael I've got a problem with X Y and Z" well then frankly you don't have an opinion that I want to read.

That's my rant and I'm sticking too it.

As an aside, for me its a real shame, I must confess, when I first got the angry anonymous posts I knew the following:

1. The person posting was using a mac.
2. They lived in Mississauga
3. They used Rogers

I suspected George for about a second, then thought to myself, he's too mature and too decent a guy to post that sort of inflammatory thing anonymously. I respected him that much. Wow am I a lousy judge of character. Let me also add, when he stopped posting anonymously and I saw it was Georg it was as if someone had punched me in the stomach, literally I felt physically ill, I am still shocked a day later. That whole fiasco completely blows me away.

Good bye

What can I say? Lesley read over the recent postings and explained to me how what was intended as simple observations are in fact horribly offensive. I realise now that what I need is a private journal, I want to write, I like writing but I cannot dare publish what I want to say to the wide world. I am too offensive, even arrogant at times.

For all of those things I am truly sorry, I apologize from the bottom of my heart to the people, and I suspect its more than just a few who I have offended. I suspect it is far too late now - and I doubt it will do any good at all, but it was not intended.

I have invested too much time into this blog, over 190 posts and scores of images, for me to just throw the whole thing away. I have decided therefore to make this a private blog. Starting shortly it will only be possible to view this site with a login. To anyone who might want to continue reading me - although I have to wonder if there is anyone left to offend - I am willing to grant access to read, but I better warn you, I won't be pulling my punches. I will be rude, I will be offensive, I will even be arrogant because it will be a private journal. (Frankly I think I went into this thing with a mindset of, this is a private journal, and given the low hit count that was actually a reasonably accurate assessment of the situation, I doubt I had more than two or three regular readers besides myself.)

Again I am sorry, I've been a real dick, without intending it which more than anything else tells me, it is time to leave.

Good bye

On Introspection

Obviously recent comments have provoked much thought on my part. I stand by everything I said because it is true. Blunt, perhaps a little brutal but brutally honest.

The sad fact is inline speed skating in North America is a dying sport. Turn out at Duluth declined this year, manufacturers and retailers are pulling out as fast as you can say clearance sale. Even skate clubs are contracting, or disappearing, remember the Cambridge club?

Now we can hide our collective head in the sand on the big issues and rant about whatever it was that so irritated "anonymous", (ironically much as this years presidential election seems to revolve around lipstick - we can also point fingers and call each other names) or we can grow up and start by acknowledging there is a very serious problem with the sport.

I spent years training (I skated for a long time before I joined a club) - yes there was blood and sweat, though not so many tears, and I spent more than a small fortune on inline skating and I really do not have much to show for it. I am angry at the industry for appalling customer service, I am angry at race officials for turning a blind eye to cheating and I am angry at the community writ large for being willing to put up with all that crap. I am angry and I am not willing to take it anymore. What is the point of trying when the best I could ever hope to achieve will be to wear the same skate boots as the winner of the next North Shore Inline Marathon?

There are good people in the sport, heck the overwhelming majority are good and decent people, but that does not matter. Ultimately my perspective is, this is not a serious sport and should not be taken seriously until the stakeholders take it seriously. Now I am a 'retired' inline skater and I actually know a lot of the major players here in North America, not on a first name basis but I know or know of them, to simply dismiss me as a "whiner" is the prerogative of the reader, but remember any new skater (the way to grow a sport) will discover, with time, the same things I have and quit. Now ask yourself how will the sport be served best?

The subject who is truly loyal to the chief magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures.

-Junius

On Pictures form a ride

Dan just posted some pictures that he took from the Escape The Don ride. I am using them without permission, but I don't think Dan will mind. :)

Notice how nervous we all looked? Actually mostly me, I figured I was about to be droped and left to fend for myself out in Mississauga somewhere.

Of course the guys at the BCC are far too kind for that sort of nonesense, they must have gone slowly so that I could feel like I wasn't the slowest guy in the world.

Thanks guys, you're the best! :)

On Talking Without Thinking

I did an Escape The Don ride last night with the Beaches Cycle Club, damn those guys are fast. But I was very pleased to report that I was not dropped, its a great feeling when all the effort finally starts to pay off and I can in fact hold on to the back of the pack if I struggle with the last fibre of my strength. Dan posted the route on the BCC blog, but here is the actual route as captured by my GPS. We averaged over 30km/h and burned over 2900 calories in just over two hours. Last night was a good night for me.

Now I was going to respond to a recent comment in response to this blog post, I was going to go into an angry tirade against someone who didn't have the balls to sign their name in a posting but had the audacity to publicly say to me that I should "get over [my]self" that apparently I am a "whiner". Instead I will say only this, anonymous, if you publicly write an apology in the comment section of this post - and sign your name, I will remove your original comment, because frankly that comment betrays a profound lack of literary comprehension that is... embarrassing. I mean reading the bloody comment is like watching the guy who "humped the pie" on American Pie glue his hand to... himself. Its almost painful to watch, or in this case read. Anyway that is all I am going to say on that subject, sorry for exposing everyone else to that.

On The Simcoe Ride

The weather looks good, I am still walking, despite custom skates that do not fit properly, and I am riding to lake Simcoe on Saturday. Its going to be a great ride and I swear I am doing this if I have to go it alone. (Although if that is the case it sure would be nice if I knew that in advance so I know to bring my iPod.) The interested reader is encouraged to see my other blog, Riding Too Far, where I have posted the particulars of the ride.

Anyway last weekend Dan Yang went to Montreal where he saw some 2009 model year bikes. I am going to post one of them here because frankly, its about the sexiest damned thing I have seen since... oh the last time I saw Lesley.


If anyone knows next week's 6/49 numbers can they give me a ring, I need to win a lottery or two.

On The North Shore Inline Marathon

Here are some statistics from the 2007 North Shore Inline Marathon (Sept. 15, 2007):

• Bib No.: 2256
• Overall rank: 417 out of 2564
• Division Placement: 23 out of 129
• Sex Placement: 353 out of 1499
• Time: 107 min 12 sec
• Time/Mile: 4 min 6 sec (avg)
• Speed (km/h): 23.6km/h

Here are the same statistics from the 2008 North Shore Inline Marathon (same path, Sept. 13, 2008):

• Bib No.: 1118
• Overall rank: 298 out of 2277
• Division Placement: 18 out of 114
• Sex Placement: 256 out of 1348
• Time: 84min 50 sec
• Time/Mile: 3min 15 sec (avg)
• Speed (km/h): 29.7

Reviewing these numbers, the improvement looks modest I admit, but what the numbers do not say is how much easier this race was. Last year, after I was done I felt completely spent. I could hardly breath, if I took a deep breath I started coughing, the small of my back was in such pain that I could hardly sit down or stand up, by the end of the race talking was an athletic event of Olympian proportions. This year, yes I knew what to expect, but instead, I never once worked my cardio system that hard, at the end breathing was no more complicated than after a Tuesday night Escape the Don Ride. During the race I had no difficulty communicating, I remember last year someone asked me where I was from, I stuttered out 'durunah', his reply, "well I've never heard of the place". This year I started calling out to people, I was yacking away with someone, at one point I yelled - and I do mean yelled - out a couple complete sentences started making fun of the pack for pushing so slowly, eventually I gave up and made a huge break away.

I have this to say about biking, holy #$&! I knew biking improved my cardio health, I knew I had lost a lot of fat - not weight, gained an awful lot of muscle. What I did not know was that despite the fact that I skated all of twice since, oh about May 20, my technical weakness - lack of comfort on skates, weak muscle groups that are used skating and not riding - was so totally offset by my cardio strength as to boggle my mind. Eric Gee and Georg N. were right, on the drive to Duluth they kept telling me I would surprise myself. Given the high regard I have for their opinion I figured I would be fine, I did not expect to set any sort of impressive performance records, but I figured I would be fine. I guess the moral of the story is, skaters should bike more.

I would like to point out my average speed at this year's inline marathon, 29.7km/h looks good even on a bike, but on the bike, I stop at red lights, this was a closed course. On a bike I get head winds and tail winds, this was all one direction with a steady, albeit gentle, tail wind. I make sharp turns on a bike, this course had a sum total of three turns of about 90 degrees. Had I been on Erin or Amy my average speed would have been 45km/h or probably a fair bit faster, the rollers are damned modest too, the one hill of any size, not nearly as big this year as last year, must have eroded a lot, no it didn't erode, I got faster.

Will I give up skating? No. I just do not think I will be doing it all that often anymore. I have to admit I am pretty disgusted at the inline industry actually. I mean, here just one story. I have custom made skate boots, they fit my feet and only my feet, except they do not. Well the North America representative of the company that made my skate boots was here so I spoke with him. He told me to take some lipstick to the part of my feet that is rubbing the skate, then put the skate on to mark where the boot needs to be reshaped, then send the boot to him. I replied, "why not just do it right here" after all, I don't exactly need the skate for a few weeks. Well he did not have lipstick. Except he was at the event as an official representative of a very big skate maker, so here is my rant. I have heard of people breaking bike frames by doing things out of warranty, the manufacturer sends a new frame and an apology, no questions asked. I am not asking for a new skate boot, I am asking for the guy to come prepared with a marker or lipstick because I will bet good money I am not the only person in this predicament, in fact I know I am not the only person unhappy with their customs. It seems everyone I talk with, who has a recent custom not made by Eric is fed up. Hey boot makers, you don't grow the sport by treating your customers like crap. (And yes, once upon a time boot makers knew what they were doing, I know people who have boots made years ago who swear by them, it seems that recent customs have issues, old ones are fine.)

And another thing that gets me, consider Riccardo Ricco, anyone who follows road biking does not need to read the Wikipedia article I linked to, they know that name. Here is a guy who is remarkable until it turns out he was on a baned, performance enhancing, substance, EPO. He was thrown out of the Tour De France and his team, Saunier Duva, had to withdraw without their captain. In the Inline Skating world it is no secret that there are people taking performance enhancing substances at some of these big events and nothing is being done about it, at least here in North America. I finish the race and hear about some of the guys that come in with impressive times and frankly I just do not care, I raced clean and suspect everyone else, why shouldn't I? (Then again I also came with no ambition and nothing to prove, but I was unusual that way.) There are so many things that need to be done in the Inline world to bring it up to a reasonable standard, but frankly I just don't see that happening, there is too much momentum to keep things crappy.

What a sorry state for a sport to be in.