On skating in the cold

Yesterday I did 19km on the Martin Goodman Trail. There was a pretty strong head wind but not nearly as bad as Tuesday. I maxed out at about 32km/h and averaged at 18km/h. Which I admit is not nearly as good as times I get in Hamilton, but two things in my defence:

1. Skating times are always worse when it is cold than when it is warm.
2. The MGT is a much more technical course than Hamilton, and with all the snow and pot holes I had to slow down a few times.

Anyway I came across a very angry article about the dysfunctional nature of the Olympics. At some point in ancient history the Greek tradition of the Olympics was ended because the games were too elaborate, too expensive and too irrelevant. I wonder, the fundamental purpose of the games, people coming together in celebration of sport was pretty much a write off from the Berlin games of 1936 on. At what point do we ask the important questions without getting shouted down? Because it does seem that finding a voice of moderation is becoming increasingly difficult as recent comments to my blog (and on the other end of the spectrum) the article I linked to above suggest.

When the moderates are shouted down, who will keep the peace?