What do you think?

I want to promote an epic bike ride in the next year or two in the Salt Lake Valley that can't be duplicated anywhere near a major metropolitan area... Why you ask? Please read on-

Nicholas Negropante is a man that has a big goal and refuses to be told he can't accomplish it. He is the founder of a non-profit organization called One Laptop Per Child http://www.xogiving.org/ His goal- to provide a laptop to every child that needs one in Africa. He met with the leaders of three African Nations to tell them that he wanted to produce a very cost attractive computer to accomplish his goal. One leader in particular shared her (rather large concerns) like-

• We lack sufficient energy resources- can you make it super energy efficient, that will require low wattage?- Answer from N.N.- "sure!"
• These will be going to kids, can you make it extremely durable- Answer from N.N.- "sure."
• Can you make it solar powered?.."sure."
• Can you make it really sensitive to local hot spots? ..."sure."
• Can you make it so it is impervious to severe heat..."sure."
• Since they will be used outside can you make them glare resistant?... "sure."

(paraphrasing) "in fact I'll make it cool looking with neat software for music and a couple of interactive games, and make it e-book extraordinaire. Oh yeah, and my goal is to produce them for $100 US dollars each."

So, Nicholas went back to his production plant in Cambridge MA and had his team work it up... and now... it is rated very highly for its indestructibility, and might be one of the most sensitive units out there for hot spots... it is solar powered, is super energy efficient, is really cool looking, is bake tested in ovens to 140 degrees F, and has the cool software stuff he mentioned to her... Right now it's price point is $188 because of lack of production, but they may be able to produce this in the near future (based on volume) for get this, da, da, da, da... $50!

Now he needs governments, companies, organizations and individuals to donate $$$. He is offering a one and one special. You buy one for $399 dollars and one is donated AND shipped to an African child. Your purchase is tax deductible,so it is really just about $288 (based on your tax bracket).

Here is my idea (I would like everyone who reads this blog to let me know what they think, please!)

I want to establish an truly epic ride. It will be called the Daniel "Popa" Santoro Tribute ride for African Children.

It will encompass six Salt Lake Canyons, 16,000 vertical feet and run 130 miles...It will start in Draper, go up the North Side of Traverse Ridge to the Stop sign and back down then up and down Little, Big, Mill (to the gate), Emigration and City, ending at the top with a party...

This could be done (before) in conjunction with Lotoja as a training ride, it also would be invaluable to those training for the Everest Challenge. As you know everyone and there brothers asks this question to every cyclist around "did you do LOTOJA?"... now they may say... "did you do Popa's?" We are the only city, possibly anywhere, that has the canyons to do it, and the population of riders to make this ride a true great!

It gets better, like the MS ride we will ask for donations, all proceeds going to One Laptop Per Child, and we could even pick a sister African Township of say 3,000 school age children to try to meet the goal of supplying them all! Individual certificates go out to all who completed at least one canyon, this could be incentive each year to do more canyons, obviously promoting a more healthy lifestyle for the typical citizen riders. Each year we could pick another sister township and so on... It also makes us, as cyclist's, more human to non-cyclists in the community... when we do something truly altruistic like this. I'm really charged about this one, I realize the challenges, but whatever, look at what Nick did... he's the hero here.

Thanks for your time reading this, so what do you think?

B-Horn

Tour de Mizz

The V had cov of the TdM and it was cool to see the props that not only Louder got in the "Beer" KOM Jersey, but also for the Z-man and Burke... "who they call T-Bird."

and what a crash in the final sprint out... that was definately an "agony of defeat" clip, yet the dude got back on his bike and finished... man he deserved points in the "most industructable" category...

Good job Mizz, we need the Vs to cover the Tour of Utah next year!

B-Horn

Climber's Cup people...

Jon Gallagher is the man! He put on another great race and even ordered a tail wind, a big tail wind...to the tune of speed's hitting 40mph plus on the flats. So Jon does his race stuff, gets a quick warm up, then rips it up. He's going to Seattle this weekend and will do the World Cyclocross Championships later this year. The G-man waited to peek late, so keep an eye on him- he should do well... and by the way he looks like Levi from the back when he's spinning circles...

Talkin' 'bout doing well in the World's congrats to another one for Dirkus Cowleyus, he trained like a dog this summer, right up and through nationals, way to work it D.C.

Shaeffer is flying right now, obviously... he put in a great time, as did Zimble(men), yeah I pluralized him... Shaef-dog is going to the Everst Challange, I think he's gonna tame it, so good luck Bra, and to all the other Paul Tracy's facing it... I know the Boss is on form, hell everyone's strong in the P.T... but special kudo's to Jimmy Wingman, he's a power man by trade but always show's up to climb, lay it down!

Kash Johnson is a way fast climber, and yeah he's 15... He could be like another Mitch "Copper" Peterson...we'll get back to him soon...so what's Kash's nickname going to be... please vote...and feel free to add your own.

1. Kash "Valley"
2. Fast Kash
3. Cold hard Kash
4. Mo' Kash (double meaning in Utah)
5. Kash on hand
6. Kash in the bank
7. Rockin' the Kash-ba
8. Kash it in
9. Kash on the Barrel-head
10. Don't except checks...sorry I ran out

Mitchell Peterson is so fast there is no nickname... but he wears a cool uni with a big sherrif's badge on it, so I'll call him the Copper... he's kinda like a Mod Squad dude with that big hair... Mitch if you cut it you could gain about a minute on the climb, but the college chicks might not dig it... so keep your priorities straight and keep the coif...

New fast chick, ex-oly gal Abby Larson... second straight torching of a local Hill Climb... watch out for her, she is new to the sport...looks like the femme fatal version of Billy the Kid Demong who tore up the 3's this year. Way to go Abbith Climbith... latin is totally in for nicknames right now...

That's it for now, gotta bring the male spawn to guitar lessons ASAP or I'm DOA.

B-Horn

Talent

In the Hornet's Nest go to a blog named One Fast Squirrel (he's a hardcore Paul Tracy teamer from No-Cal) and check out the U-tube posted on the most recent blog.

Sanford and Son rules! That's talent.

B-Horn

Man-o-man!!!

This is huge... Dave Sharp sent out a chain e-mail with a comment of "Nate Pack, who is this guy... a Cat 5 with a 9:16 at Lotoja, he must have soloed."

Here are some facts about Nate-

• He posted a 50 flat time in Snowbird several years ago at 5'11" 197 lbs with a good portion of body fat...thats right 50 flat, he ave. over 440watts...
• I met him on a climb last year and told him how I knew about his climb times, and how impressed I was that a dude of his size could climb like that.
• He is a very intellingent dude (who analyzes training like Max Testa) and likes to do shorter sessions on the trainer (year round) of really hard intervals Vs time in the saddle...
• He's about as nice of a guy as they come...
• He took me up on a gratis offer to help him lose weight, he got down to 168 last spring and kept the same wattage... imagine what he would have done the SBHC in...anyway between the training, dieting, having a new baby and remodeling a house, it burned him out... he gained a lot of weight back. Then I never heard from him again until today, in response to an e-mail of mine.
• Apparently, he quit riding until May, then started riding around 8 hours a week throughout the summer.
• He didn't feel great during Lotoja and kept it steady... he said he soloed close to a total of 140 miles of the race.... and still posted a 9:16! What if he would have been with the group of 180?!?

This guy is an absolute cycling machine... Nate there is no reason to apologize to me, you didn't let me down... I don't know what to say outside of "amazing bro."

B-Horn

Things you can do with your cell phone.

Sean "Bourne" Hoover had the following to share regarding cell phones...

5 THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW CELL PHONES COULD DO

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST-----Emergency-The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number, 112, can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND-Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

THIRD- Hidden Battery Power. Imagine your cell battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your cell will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH- How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone. To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes th e SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either . If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones. And Finally....

FIFTH- Free Directory Service for Cells. Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more for 411 information calls when they don't have to. Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle, which makes this situation even more of a problem. When you need to use the 411 information option, simply dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

Thanks, great info Sean,

B-Horn

No Way!

Today something pretty cool happened, it just goes to show how Karma is linked and what a small world it really is... hope you like it.

First the facts then how they relate-

1. Three years ago I rode for Midoule and really enjoyed it. To this day when I see the guys we'll hook up to ride. Hence Chris Petersen was nice enough to keep me on their active e-mail list.
2. I host the Tour de France competition in July on this blog, the winner gets his/her beverage of choice. Utrider wins. We exchange names and numbers to get the job done.
3. I receive a chain e-mail from a Midoule rider Brian V. on Friday with regard to a bike that was stolen from him, that he found on e-bay... with great info on how to prevent theft and what to do after the fact.
4. I post it Friday (see blog)
5. I get a phone call at work this morning from a guy who saw his bike listed on a link within Brian's text.

Those are the facts, this is how it runs... the rider listed in #5 calls me at work because he knows Utrider, who is one of only a few people with my work phone number, or for that matter know my full name...

So sometimes blogs work, and they work fast... but this would not have come about without Midoule keeping me on their active chain e-mail group; and without Brian V. taking the time to help others (let alone attaching some key links of stolen bikes) and then finally the advent of the blog to distribute the information...

Job done for the day, everyone raise a big cold one for Karma, technology, a bit of good luck and the recovery of a another bike.

B-Horn

Has your bike been stolen, read on...

Great post from fellow rider Brian V from the Midoule Squad... he had his bike stolen and months later found it on e-bay... apparently there is a rash of thefts going on, so Brian decided to get out some valuable information regarding this... read on.

I thought you guys might be interested to know that I just recovered my bike that was stolen from my garage almost two months ago (along with some other items), after spotting it on eBay. ) I was about to the point of giving up looking for it when it appeared. I've heard from the various bike shops around town that they've all noticed an increase in bike thefts lately, and so it is probably worthwhile for all of us to be more aware. Through some diligence there is a chance you can recover your stolen items, and hopefully take down these guys. Since I am already on to a new bike, I am mainly just concerned in catching these guys and getting them off the street. (I think this is all a result of bad karma when about a year ago I saw a homeless guy riding around on a top-of-the-line Bianchi with flip flops and clipless pedals and chuckling to myself, "That bike is totally stolen and he has no idea what it is worth.")
Apparently some local pawn shops are involved in this rash of thefts, and this is the story my guy is also following, claiming he bought it from a pawn shop and had no idea it was stolen. Despite the fact that I totally don't believe him and he was very evasive when I tried to see the bike in person and despite the negative review accusing him of dealing in stolen goods, I'll follow the line of our judicial system, and allow him to remain innocent until proven guilty. So, as of right now, I won't give out his contact info and email address for us all to spam him. It appears that over the course of two years he has sold over 100 bikes or frames.
However, of concern to me is that even though he took down my bike from eBay, he still has two bikes actively listed that I can only presume are stolen. Included is a nice Felt carbon bike built up with DA components, being sold with no reserve. You can see them at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Felt-F1-C-Carbon-Dura-Ace-Ksyrium-Easton-Road-Bike_W0QQitemZ140154161981QQihZ004QQcategoryZ98084QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and
http://cgi.ebay.com/Trek-Pro-9-9-OCLV-Carbon-Bike-XTR-Rock-Shox-Avid_W0QQitemZ140154170810QQihZ004QQcategoryZ98083QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It should be noted that they chopped up my bike and put a different wheel set, seat and seat post, and pedals in a bad attempt to make it look different. I assume the same has been done to these bikes. It makes sense to forward this email to anyone you know who rides locally and hopefully someone else can also recover their lost bike. Or maybe you want to bid, it looks like a really good deal.
I've told the police on my guess of the value of the Felt bike and told them that likely someone who can buy a bike like that isn't going to pawn it away for a couple hundred bucks.
I don't know if I'll recover my Ksyrium wheel set (which was purchased less than a year ago and is probably worth more than the bike at this point) or the other items stolen. As a result of this fun little experience I've got a few easy tips to help you recover your bike, and none of it requires wearing a 10-gallon cowboy hat with a camera hidden inside:
1. Write on some small slips of paper your name, contact information and some variation of "If you find this note, this bike has been stolen..." and put it inside your handlebars and/or in your head tube. In the chance that they chop up your bike, or knock off the serial number this will help you identify your bike.
2. Write on the inside of your wheel set with a sharpie or paint pen your name and contact info, either under the rim tape or wherever. I didn't think of it before hand, but my wheel set had a serial number as well that I should have written down.
3. If you haven't already, make record of your serial number(s) and even give it to your insurance company. You may also want to take photos of your bike, including any significant marks or chips or whatever, and with every upgrade or noteworthy change.
4. Check eBay and CraigsList for your stuff. eBay even lets you save searches and it will notify you if any like items appear. What could have been my fatal mistake was I didn't have my search broad enough. The guy put spaces in between the lettering on "200 SCI" so my automated search didn't catch it. Luckily I did a manual search of "Kestrel 200".
5. If you do find your bike, if you bid on it you can request the seller's contact information. WARNING: When you request their information, it also sends your contact information to them, so you may want to be sure you are comfortable doing that, or at the very least chose a phone number that can't be easily traced back to you, if you fear retribution. On grandcentral.com you can get a free phone number that can redirect to your real number. (I'm a little disappointed in eBay's stance on this, but only a police officer can report to them a stolen item, and then eBay will assist in getting the information to the police officer. Given the speed that things come and go, and how long that will likely take, there is a good chance your bike will be long gone before they take action.)
6. Once you have a phone number you can do a free reverse search on a variety of phonebook sites and get their address.
7. Keep pressing the police if you do find it. Although the SLCPD was very helpful, I imagine that in their view a single stolen bike isn't a big enough ticket item to get excited about. You are likely going to have to do much of the legwork yourself. However, if this guy has indeed sold 100+ stolen bikes at an average of $500 each (likely much more) that is at least $50,000 in stolen merchandise.
Anyway, spread the word and hopefully we can help curb some of this stuff and also help some people recover their bikes.
Brian

Great info and detail, thanks Brian,

B-Horn

Hey

What's up y'all?

Webster's to publish new words and def's this week.

I do some consulting for the publisher of Webster's Dictionary. After the TT this weekend I traveled non-stop around the globe to most of the English speaking nations. Our crack team of professionals submitted this elite list of new words and def's... as always, you are first to know.

- Reintarnation: coming back to life as a hillbilly.

- Bozone (n.): substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating; the bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.

- Cashtration (n.): act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

- Sarchasm: the gulf between the author of sarcastic wit & the person who doesn't get it.

- Inoculatte: to take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

- Hipatitis: terminal coolness.

- Osteopornosis: a degenerate disease.

- Decafalon (n.): the grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.

- Glibido: all talk & no action.

- Doppler Effect: the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

- Beelzebug: Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning & cannot be cast out.

- Ignoranus: a person who's both stupid & an ...

Study up, and please use correctly, if you need any assistance with these terms- see me after the next race...

The Fall is coming!

Yeah, yeah and yeah!

Get the rides done early 'cause it's all about college football (App State / Michigan) come on... Fla State and Clemson in Death Valley... High School F.B.- the Ohio Challange where Ohio teams played some of the best teams in the Country and man helmets were flying...

Baseball, Sox are up 7 games and the Cubs might just pull it out...

I even watched the US Open and Golf ... it was awesome. Tiger and Phil going at it... Phil is Mr Short Game, holy smokes... went to Heber to play a round with my red headed spawn. and I've been knighted the official Mr No Game by the Homestead Homies- but my son drives a cart like Mario Andretti, so we got that going for us... I guess when you hit a 134 on 9 ya gotta go at speed, ya know...

The Pro's start this week, that's football Mon, Thurs, Fri (H.S), Sat and Sun. I guess Tue I'll take a shower and Wed I will brush my teeth... that should keep me busy...