flahute

Crossed the new bridge across I-215 at the north end of Wasatch, right by the entrance to Parley’s Canyon … didn’t realize it dead-ended in gravel in the gully on Parley’s Trail … so did a little impromptu CX’ing on my Vittoria CX tubbies … thankfully no flats.

Ran into A-Train, the Tri-Geek and Lucy Nosebiter while climbing back out of the gully, so stopped and a bit of a chat, then promptly ran home so I could upload today’s ride into Motionbased as quickly as possible, because I’m a geek like that.

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Now … to get out of the chamois, then shower to wash off the salt, sweat, and stink … then figure out what I want to eat that will replenish calories in a good, healthy way, rather than ordering a pizza and stuffing my face.

And as always, the CarboRocket kept me well-hydrated and energized … I’ve gone for a few rides now just to have an excuse to drink it!

Obligatory Gardie Jackson model shot. Click the pic for larger sizes.

Why is it that the clearest shots of bike races seem to be the ass shots AFTER the riders have passed you by?

I’ve got about 300 shots to go through, but pulled a few of what I felt were the obvious best to post here. Others will hit Flickr as I sort.

T.Burke Swindlehurst (obligatory at-speed blurry photo)

T.Burke Swindlehurst (obligatory post-win snot-wipe).

Ali “is there anyone behind me?” Goulet, off the front in the 3’s. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to hold it for the last few laps.

Matt Ohran … in a road race? Masters 35+.

Terrific article on Economist.com this week analysing how Hillary Clinton’s campaign fell apart …

The Economist is a British newsmag, with a moderate lean to the right … but their articles are incredibly insightful and researched, and presented more objectively than any American media outlet.

The post-mortem | The fall of the House of Clinton | Economist.com

THIS time last year it looked as if Hillary Clinton’s path to the Democratic nomination would be a cakewalk. She had the best brand-name in American politics. She controlled the Democratic establishment. She had money to burn and a double-digit lead in the opinion polls. And as the first American woman to have a chance of breaking the presidential glass ceiling, she had a great story to tell.

And Barack Obama? He was a first-term senator with few legislative achievements and a worrying penchant for honesty (in his autobiography he admitted to using marijuana and even cocaine, “when you could afford it”). He knew how to give a good speech. But how could that compare with Mrs Clinton’s assets—a well-oiled political machine and a winning political formula that combined a carefully-calibrated appeal to the centre with hard-edged political tactics?

Today, Mrs Clinton has not only lost the Democratic nomination. She has humiliated herself in the process. She has been forced to lend her campaign more than $11m of her own money. She has cosied up to some of her former persecutors in the “vast right wing conspiracy”, notably Richard Mellon Scaife, a newspaper magnate. She has engaged in phoney populism, calling for a temporary break on petrol taxes, praising “hardworking Americans, white Americans”, vowing to “totally obliterate” Iran and waving the bloody shirt of September 11th. The conservative Weekly Standard praised her as “a feminist form of George Bush”. So how did one of America’s most accomplished politicians turn a cakewalk into a quagmire?

Read the rest of the article.