It's a crisis of capitalism, so keep up with the Wall Street Journal

Not because they're always right, but because it's the paper of, for, and by the folks who own and run the country, so to speak. It's important to know what's being discussed in those circles, and how. (Once a week, Thomas Frank writes a pretty good column for them too). By all means, also read the New York Times, even the Nation or Asia Times On Line if you want, but they're serious folks at the WSJ, and they know their stuff. And yes, I'm talking as much about the commentary as the reporting. Take today's opinion page: the lead commentary about Treasury, the Fed, and the latest bail-out; the Russia piece and how thuggish Putinism is beginning to backfire; the Henninger column on how McCain should aim for really real reform of Washington; and the Zach Karabel (a history Ph.D., Cold War era, from Harvard) op-ed asking some good questions about the now near-universal call for more "regulation" are all well worth reading.

Pittsburgh Masters Velo Club puts it all in perspective

My Sunday ride remains a good one, but look at what PMVC did this past weekend. It is the Poverty Hollow version of Walton Tea Room Rd. ride (see Oscar's book and this map). It's about 5400 feet of climbing--which I may actually come near to next Sunday, when we'll ride in Amstel Gold Race land (or Zuid Limburg).

Ian Hibell R.I.P.

I learned this from this week's Economist. Mr. Hibell, the author of Into Remote Places (1984), was a near full-time cyclist who literally rode around the world several times. According to this week's obituary, in 40 years of cycling he encountered: hot desert sand; vicious mosquitoes; a great variety of jungles and swamps; many tricky traverses requiring two tries: one to figure out how to get across, a second to get the bike; a spear-throwing Turkana in Kenya; rocky tracks in Peru; soldier ants; real soldiers; sleet that cut his face like metal; all, I'm sure, among many other difficult challenges. So how did he die--prematurely--last month? Why, by getting hit by a car, of course. (And, also not surprising, rather unnecessarily: knocked out of the way by a car apparently chasing another).

Sunday ride--as it should be

We did the Amerongen loop today, which yielded me 72 miles (18.8 average). That's more like it, also because the route has a couple of "hills" in it and generally runs through terrain that isn't always completely flat. It's a pretty route also, as the other three members of the group (all new to it) remarked several times along the way. Through Hilversum and Soestdijk, you get the first little bump in Soest (Soester Eng). Then after the Amersfoort Zoo comes another little uphill section (Amersfoortse "Berg" ["berg" means mountain, hence the quotation marks]), after which you pass Leusden and enter Scherpenzeel through the backdoor. From there you can almost see the high point of the ride. I wasn't so good on the Amerongse "Berg": tried to do the whole thing standing up (I think it was 39x15), but the last 200m I had to sit down, and go up one cog. One guy who may have been doing hill repeats (we saw him turn around as we started our way up) actually chased me down (the horror: he had hairly legs and was big). When I turned around in Amerongen to wait for the others, Olaf and Wim were already in sight. I think it was a breakthrough moment for Olaf, who has had trouble on the hills. Coffee stop in Leersum, then back at a decent clip past Ginkelduin (third little climb), Maarnse Grintweg, Austerlitz ("climb" number four), Huis ter Heide, Den Dolder, Maartensdijk, and Hilversum. The other three had not been on the bike since last Sunday--I don't know how they do it. Beautiful day also: cool in the morning, and I rode in two layers of long sleeves. But at the coffee stop the knee warmers and the vest could come off, and we just had our post-Sunday ride pancake (giant, Dutch style; with bacon) in the sun, across the street from our house. If I could only get these guys to start the ride at 8 (this would require some interference with their active social lives, perhaps an unreasonable thing to ask--perhaps), we would also be back in time to enjoy a full afternoon of, eh, recovery mostly, I'm afraid.

Cycling on Flemish tv

It is all I expected it to be. Take this afternoon: at 2:30 they went live to Paris-Brussels, which they joined with 100 km to go. Except for a brief check-up on today's Vuelta stage (they were going to return to the final kilometers of that race after the finish in Brussels) they showed it non-stop until the finish. Tom Steels was there to give the perspective of a (recent) member of the peloton (Dirk de Wolf did the same thing the past 12 days or so in the Vuelta), and the commentary was unfailingly expert, to-the-point, and low key. The cameras were where you wanted them to be at all times, and the replays were always relevant too. Coverage in country that really knows the sport, for an audience that doesn't need any hype, that would not accept any hype or other bs. I could not watch the whole time, and by the time the finish of the Vuelta came around had to go on a little ride of my own, but it was great to be right there with the peloton in the rain. The image of a victorious Robbie McEwen gasping for air as he crossed the line was a perfect conclusion to what (sorry, friends in the U.S.) will probably soon be a pretty normal weekend afternoon in my living room.

In other early Cold War espionage news ...

... Morton Sobell confesses, this after a lifetime of denials. There are those who have argued in recent years that confessions like this one, and other evidence of espionage activities by U.S. communists before, during, and after World War II, vindicate Joe McCarthy and his campaigns. That is more than a little over the top. That there was communist espionage (mostly prior and during World War II), doesn't justify wildly throwing out accusations left and right, and it ignores the political opportunism which in McCarthy's case (and that of his party) was a major driving force also. A much more interesting question is how and why, during times of war and international crisis, the United States tends to get a little overzealous in its domestic handling of the situation. I'm not sure if it's just or even primarily an American phenomenon, but it has manifested itself in almost every crisis, from the Quasi War of 1798 to our current War on Terror.

Lance and I ...

... first met last June, when he joined me at the starting line of the Trek 100 charity ride near Pewaukee, Wisconsin. We made eye contact, and there was a very brief moment of mutual acknowledgment. If at that moment I had stuck out my hand, we surely would have sealed our friendship with a handshake. But the moment passed, and soon Lance was busy posing for photographers and signing authographs. During the ten minutes that remained until the start, however, I had his back, standing close enough to spot some light hairs on his calf. I later reported to my other friends that apparently my friend Lance wasn't a rigorous shaver any more, and maybe not a very serious athlete any more either. Shows you how little I had gotten to know him, because this week there was the announcement of his return to the peloton. I should have had some idea, because after they sent us on our way back in June, I was on his wheel the entire way out of the parking lot. And he looked sharp. I'm sure he'll hold his own just fine, next year.