Ok,OK, OK! I GET IT!

Got some e-mails recently about my blob, and lack of updates. They went like this: "Steve, where's the Hillsboro race update? and by the way, you smell" and "I have checked your blob 1345 times, TODAY alone, and no update, and by the way, you smell, again" and my favorite " Steve, if Anderson Cooper & Tom Cruise had a child, you would look just like him. Where's the blob update? And once again, you smell, even worse".

I get the hint! I've been busy, believe me.

I consulted with Edgar, president of my fan club and trusted advisor the morning of the race, for advice. Edgar is very smart, and knows me quite well. He should, as he is my alter ego, like Tyler Durden. (If you don't get it, watch "Fight Club")

Anyway, Edgar, in his stoic voice said the following: "Steve, quitters never win, and winners never quit" That's it? You can't do better than that? "That is all" was the response.

So, the race goes on. 100 competitors in my category, hills, hills, fast, more hills, alligators, hills, piranhas, hills etc. I have NEVER finished Hillsboro, in any category, period. I have never made it past the first significant hill with the field (8 mile marker) as well.

I tried to stay in the top 10 in the field. First hill, where I usually get dropped, made it through, painfully. Second hill? Dropped like an anvil in a Road Runner cartoon, right on the coyote's head.

Then I looked over my shoulder, as I was all alone in defeat and saw Edgar! He reminded me of what he said......"Winners never quit!" So I blasted on, for the next 6 miles, and CAUGHT back onto the field! Burned all of the matches in my book, but did it! Went the next 14 miles with the field, through town, back out of town, and got massively dropped on the same hill again.

Lights out, body slammed, matchbook burned up, dead. But I still remembered what Edgar said........and hooked up with 11 other riders who got dropped from the field as well. We proceeded to chase the field, but they were gone. Today was a training day. Did the next 37 miles with our little chase group, and finished 66 miles total, 42nd overall. I felt like a winner, and Edgar gave me a big hug afterward. Wait, that's kind of weird. Oh well.

"Keeping your word" update: I am glad I did not post this yesterday, as everyone would have thought it was an April Fool's joke, but yesterday was April 1st. You remember. The "day" of reckoning for the BIG BET between The Badger & Myself. The bet was that I would use the negative button, during the grueling indoor sessions on the computrainer, and I said I would not. If he loses, which he did by the way, he has to shave his entire body, which will be quite a chore.

Here's a picture I took of him down at Hillsboro. He has not started to shed any of his winter fur. I told him I would make the appointment for the wax job, and even pitch in for the raw material, ie: hot wax, to accomplish the feat.

He seems to have some selective memory issues, as to what we agreed to, and is using the trip the the Badger Hospital about a month ago, as his defense. Edgar interjected that any badger that defends himself, has a fool for a client. Edgar is smart when it comes to the legal stuff.

So I hired a sketch artist to do a computer generated image (CGI) of what The Badger will look like, once he "Badgers" up to his loss on the bet, and keeps his word. This is as close as we can get for now.