PINK FLOYD - COMFORTABLY NUMB

Hello
Is there anybody in there?
Just nod if you can hear me.
Is there anyone home?

Come on, now.
I hear you’re feeling down.
Well I can ease your pain,
Get you on your feet again.

Relax.
I need some information first.
Just the basic facts:
Can you show me where it hurts?

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re sayin’.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I can’t explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

Ok.
Just a little pinprick.
There’ll be no more –aaaaaahhhhh!
But you may feel a little sick.

Can you stand up?
I do believe it’s working. good.
That’ll keep you going for the show.
Come on it’s time to go.

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re sayin’.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse,
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now.
The child is grown, the dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.

As North Carolina Primary Looms, Eyes on Edwards

WILMINGTON, N.C. — What will the Edwardses do?

As the Democratic presidential candidates and their surrogates traipse through North Carolina in the final days before the state’s primary, some people here are wondering, why so quiet in Chapel Hill?

That is where John and Elizabeth Edwards retreated after he dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination on Jan. 30. Neither Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, nor Mrs. Edwards, a political activist herself, has endorsed a candidate, despite the growing intensity of the race between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and the fact that the contest has now landed in the Edwardses’ backyard.

I’ve always likes John Edwards … I think he’s got what it takes to be a good President, but others apparently disagree … I was and am a big fan of Al Gore as well.

Thus far, both former candidates have stayed out of the endorsement game this year, and for the life of me, I’m not sure how I feel about it.

Part of me wishes they’d come out and support Barack Obama. Part of me is really glad that they’ve thus far stayed above the fray, because coming out and supporting either candidate at this point is liable to taint their reputations in the party … I have big hopes that should Obama get elected that Edwards takes on a role like Attorney General (and perhaps eventually Supreme Court Justice?).

What to do, what to do?

Just don’t support Hillary.

McCain runs strong as Democrats battle on - USATODAY.com

Why is this man smiling?

Arizona Sen. John McCain could understandably be scowling: He could face a more difficult political landscape than any presidential candidate in a generation.

Only 39% of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party he represents, the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows. A record 63% say the Iraq war he defends was a mistake. The disapproval rating for President Bush, the incumbent McCain has embraced, has hit 69%, the most negative assessment of any president since Gallup began asking the question 70 years ago.

Yet in what seems to be the most promising election for Democrats since 1976 — when the aftermath of the Watergate scandal opened the door for Democrat Jimmy Carter to win the presidency — the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows the presumptive Republican presidential nominee within striking distance of either Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“Sen. McCain will not be a pushover in Ohio,” cautions Ted Strickland, the Democratic governor of one of the nation’s most important battleground states. “It will be a hotly contested race.”

And why is John McCain running so closely to either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Because the Democratic Party is tearing itself apart in a highly contentious primary season … because Hillary Clinton thinks she can overturn the will of the people and secure the nomination by capturing the super-delegates at the convention this summer; and that Obama’s supporters will then turn around and warmly embrace her and carry her to her coronation as the United States first woman President.

Well, Hillary … I’ve got some news for you … it ain’t gonna happen. You are far too divisive a figure in the party, and in the country. You are the anti-Bush, but not in a good way. As much as Democrats hate him, Republicans hate you even more … and while Barack Obama can reach across the figurative aisle and garner support from life-long Republicans looking for change, what you will do is push life-long Democrats (like me) across the aisle to vote for John McCain (or Ralph Nader, or anyone else but you); which will ensure that McCain wins the election.

Then in 2012, after the country has endured another 4-years of misery in government, Barack Obama will run again … and he’ll be able to say “I told you so”, and he’ll run away with the election while you are pilloried as the woman who cost the Democrats the election in 2008, just as Ralph Nader was in 2000.

Keep it up, Hillary … I can guarantee that you will not get my vote.

Great interview in the Marin Independent-Journal today with Davis Phinney, 1984 Olympic cyclist, 2-time Tour de France stage winner, and America’s winningest cyclist.

Cycling in Marin: Champion cyclist regains control of his life in battle with Parkinson’s

IF you’re looking for minor miracles, look no further than Davis Phinney.

For most of the past three weeks, this champion cyclist, a guy who has won 328 races in his life, including two stages of the Tour de France, has been sitting in Tiburon. And waiting. Waiting for a small miracle.

On Friday, that miracle arrived.

At age 48, Phinney has been in an eight-year fight for his life. He has Parkinson’s, the insidious disease that causes uncontrollable quaking and shaking.

Click to read the entire article.

Bob Cullinan, who wrote the article, is also the guy behind CycleTo.com.

Video excerpts from the interview are available as well.

And then go donate to the Davis Phinney Foundation, to help the fight against Parkinson’s Disease. That would be the Big Ring thing to do.

Not very impressive, I know, but the Garmin battery crapped out in Cotton Bottom … and since I felt like complete poop, I wondered if the GPS was telling me to stop and get a garlic burger.

I didn’t succumb to the urge, for two reasons … one, I was trying to get in something that resembled a reasonable ride, and two, with the way that my body reacts to garlic, I likely wouldn’t have made it home.

Continued climbing up to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, then dropped back down Wasatch to 6200 South, and home the same way I came … kind of a lollipop (or a cherry stem) to South Big Cottonwood Canyon to Wasatch to East Big Cottonwood Canyon.

No matter how you look at it, however, my lungs felt like they were going to burst. I doubt my heart rate ever dropped below 150. During that little 3 mile stretch that did get recorded, most of the time my HR was well above 160, and pushing 180, and it didn’t seem like it got any easier as I continued to climb up to the mouth of the canyon.

On the other hand, I tried CarboRocket today, and gotta say that the Kiwi-Lime is extremely yummy … the Mango may take a little time to get used to.

Even as bad as I felt, it was all in the lungs, not the legs … I definitely had the energy (just not the drive), and my stomach does seem to handle the Rocket better than any other carbo drink I’ve ever tried.

Liège-Bastogne-Liège is being broadcast live on Cycling.TV, and again I’m able to watch it without a subscription … much poorer quality video than a couple weeks ago for Paris-Roubaix, but I’ll take what I can get.

And even grainy/pixelated coverage of Phillippe Gilbert attacking hard on La Rédoute is pretty amazing.

And now Paolo Bettini pulls Gilbert back … and now Andy Schleck is taking a flyer … and Schleck is caught by Stefan Schumacher! With about 30km to go, this is going to be an exciting finish!

Definitely a lot Big Ring moves here.

Update, a few hours later:

Nice work by Valverde and Rebellin to reel the youngster in, with older brother Fränk on their wheel. It was too bad that Fränk didn’t have the snap in his legs to drop the two other riders after the great set-up that Andy gave him … but the brothers still managed to finish third and fourth.

I wonder how many times (if ever) that’s happened in a Classic?

Tour de Georgia finishes tomorrow, and (Crack) Rock Racing hasn’t imploded yet. Definitely have to back off my prediction, although I’m not sure how happy the team is going to be with Oscar Sevilla’s 6th place finish …

But what’s the story with Tyler Hamilton being 41-minutes back? The twin not helping him pedal this week?