Rider Down

Another Michigan cyclist lost on the road.

At 77, Lawrence "Larry" Walcott loved riding his bike and by all estimates had ridden well more than 100,000 miles in too many races to count.
His son, Phil, said his father was training for the Jalapeno 100 mile bike race in Harlingen, Texas, on Feb. 8 with sea breezes from the Gulf of Mexico propelling him along a state highway not far from Corpus Christi.
The Texas Department of Public Safety reports that the Holland Motors retiree and Korean War Army veteran turned his bike in front of a vehicle traveling on State Highway 188 and was killed when he was struck in Rockport, Texas.
Walcott and his wife of 55 years, Jean, both of Jenison, were staying at an RV park not far from the scene of the crash.
Walcott was pronounced dead at the scene by a justice of the peace and no charges have been filled in the incident.

Roll Call

What's going out there, cruel world? It's February and in the upper midwest we're all cooped-up, counting the days till that big thaw. This deep into the winter there's no way to describe the cabin fever that seeps into your bones. Unless you live above the snow line all I can say is that it's a Michigan thing, you wouldn't understand. What? you say you live even farther North? Well, then I probably come off as a real whining prick. I guess then it sucks to be you.

So what's the going's on these dark days in the 616?

A ways east of here our friends in Dexter (Washtenaw county) are fighting the good fight against a hoard of NIMBY anti trail nazis. Keep fighting, Jones!

There's a new mountain bike team in town. Farm Team Racing promises to promote the cause of Elite weekend beer drinking fast as Hell trail bike racers. Take your bike club membership apps somewhere else, cause Farm Team is invite only. You think you can hang with the Farm Team? Yeah, I don't think so...

Farm Team got itself a race. Couple of 'em. Versluis Snowcross 1 and 2 are in the bag. Results at the Farm Team Blog. Photos over at Jack's.

Were you hoping to race Lumberjack this year? Looks like you're too late! The Lumberjack 100 is full. Sold out in 12 hours. According to "Old Joe" over on the East Side, it's all the fault of a bunch of "chodes!"

The sellout frenzy was fueled in part by all the chatter on the mmba.org bb....a lot of weekend warriors and chodes want to jump on the endurance race bandwagon and don't really care about the full NUE series..

Got that? If you ain't a real pro who races a million ultras a year, you're a frickin' chode who's taking up space. At least according to Old Joe.....or should we call him Art? And just what kind of a guy is Art?

This sounds completeley typical of this guy, but let's review what has lead to his belief that he is of the standing of "Legend". In 1996 he travelled to Australia and won a Masters World Championship in XC (his age group, whatever that was then). Yes, he is a World Champion. In 1997 and 1998 he returned to racing the local mtb Expert scene amongst the "chodes" in 50+ Expert and couldn't win. That's right, one year after an incredible victory he could not win locally in 1997. Two years ago he was diagnosed with DVT (blood clotting in the legs) while training for Leadville in Colorado. Typical of an arrogant person, he drove back home across the country to see his own physician with zero regard for what should happen if he were to pass out or have a heart attack and take out some innocent, unsuspecting motorists. BTW, DVT is linked to the possible abuse of EPO for those that may not know. He is in impressive shape for somebody his age, I would not discount that for a minute, but he loves to let everybody know just how great he believes he is too.

For Old Joe, I'll borrow a quote from your own signature on another board, "Be the person your dog already believes you are". Time to heed your own advice...

EPO, shitty attitude...thanks for representing, Art. Thanks for reminding us all that in every State in America there's some dip-shit who thinks he's better than the rest of us "chodes."



Gotta leave it there. Peace out.