I swiped this pic that The Doughnut Queen took of Opie from Hurl to notify you of an extraordinarily important, and sadly overlooked celebration. Its the International Canned Beer Month right now, which really is no different in our world than every other month.

This piece here is near and dear to my heart...

...My heart which is heavy with this bit of news from Peter.

"Tragedy struck Tuesday as a bicyclist was killed on Mission St. here
in our own Santa Cruz. the article is here.
fucking horrible to happen to someone on his way to work at 8 am. i
pass that intersection everyday on my way to work and it scares the
shit out of me to think that I could've been that guy."

Anybody whos spent more than five minutes riding in traffic could have been that guy. Its safe to always assume that no one in a vehicle can see you and those who can, are probably out to get you.
Through all of the years Ive spent messengering, and on the road in general, the split second outcome of a split second lapse in concentration on my part, or the part of the motorist is never far from my mind.
And I repeat- Our hearts go out to the victim and his family. Lets please continue to be careful out there.

Now then, d*pow, hero to the downtrodden hath sent forth notification of a bicycle related event that one and all should surely pay heed to.

Theres no word on whether or not the various aspects of competition will involve tanks in a maze, a shrinking cylinder one has to shoot their way into the top of, or rapidly multiplying spiders.
Anyone who spent any amount of time at a 7-11 between the years of 1986 and 1989 knows what Im talking about.

So has anybody seen this? And does anybody want to loan me their copy? And does anyone recognize just how tore up Scot Breithaupt looks?
I guess spending alot of time in a converted school bus will do that to a man. I mean, just ask The Bear, Zeke, Chever, Sov, or Captain Dave.
Before they kill you, they might even tell you the truth.

And speaking of which, is there truth in that being fat is actually cool? According to Loudass, there is.

Though Loudass doent look nearly as fetching in his fur cod piece as Hank.

In our continuing effort to bring you periodic slices of art that doesnt suck, allow us to introduce you to Mr. Fernando Nieto.

Also, if any of you folks are kicking yourselves for not making any summer vacation plans, might I recommend Duke Fest for next year? Yeah, I kinda cant believe it ether. However, Im still waiting for "The Fall Guy Fest"

That Lee Majors is one handsome devil.

CO had a bit of insight for the poor soul with the cracked carbon, and a wife with a cheating heart.

"Dear Cracked Carbon Outsourced Stem, Canadian (possibly) Built Frame Owner,
It would be my recommendation to sell the above mentioned fractured steed, and immediately get yourself in contact with one of the following:
Rick at Hunter Cycles(dot)com,
Curtis at Inglis Cycles(dot)com or
Tony at Pereira Cycles(dot)com.

Or any other reputable steel frame builder....You may have to wait a month or six, but when your new rig arrives, not only will you be one badassmotherfucker, you should be able to run that cheating bitch and her (more than likely) tech industry lovah over with relative ease, and put one hell of a dent in his H2 to boot....your new lugged beauty will come out of the ordeal with nary a scratch.

Tailwinds,
CO (filling in for Abby, cause she has a rash)"

COs gonna put Abby out of a job.

And speaking of custom builders, Sean from Soulcraft and I have been going back and fourth on just what kind of bike I wanted him to build for me. Finally I just got tired of trying to decide, and knowing that Sean is well educated in what I like in a bicycle, I told him to just build me the bike that he felt most suited my personality. Among the options available, such as the Alma Pura, and the Groundskeeper, I now present you the newest bike in the Soulcraft family, 'The Super Retarded Ninja Ice Cream Machine', taken after my high school nickname.

Now well finish up with the wildly popular Friday Hero segment.
The almighty son of the almighty, Taylor Phinney has done the incredible. Mini Phinney walks away with a pocket full of gold.
Like Big Dave says, 'damn skippy'.
Seriously- a 24 second gap? You gotta be kidding me.
All I can do with 24 seconds is forget what I was doing, remember, and forget again.
Congratulations kid, youve made us all very proud.

Also, at the request of Super Boss, heres the return of Petey Macks 'Spoke', which now will forever have a home over there in our videos section to your left.

Alright- The weekend is upon us. Like the Minneapolis Mafia says, "everybody get ddooooowwwwwnnnnn."