However according to Sky, and as much as Id hoped this to be the case, apparently its not.

The sound youre hearing is that of a dashed dream.

Now then, this guy has been mentioned here before. His name is Shannon Selberg, but before we get into that, the fella that took this here photo of Shannon is named Lou Munez. He is a photographer with a sharp eye, and I would have asked permission to put the photo here, but Ill be damed if I could find his email.
Lou is also a cyclist, and like everyone else on the face of the planet has a blog.

I mention all of this because of some hot water Ive gotten into before for using photos without asking, despite the fact that I always gave the photographers credit, and linked their sites even if, at least in one instance, it was some crap photos and a Flickr site..
Anyway, with all of that being said, I dont want to go through that again. Lou if youre reading this, Im sorry.
So, lets talk about Shannon...

...Oh good lord I forgot what I was going to say.
I think I was maybe gonna mention that his band The Heroine Sheiks just finished recording an album that will be released in May on Amphetamine Reptile Records, but it seems like there might have been something else.
Geez.. Old age is a drag.

As long as were on the topic of music however, why shouldnt I bring up this band?
Black Mountain is what they go by, and their new album, 'In the future' is an adjective that begins with 'A'; and ends with 'E', and isnt 'awful(e)'

Its ten songs of spaced out, melodic Sabbathy rock jams that could very well play as the soundtrack of my life.
Just one more thing out of Canada that is better than me.
Buy a copy, and if after a couple of plays, you dont find yourself thinking about it in the shower, on your way to work, and even while listening to other music, Ill take it off your hands. I could always use an extra copy.
You know- just in case.

El Corpo bailed out of town on Saturday. Hes leavin', on an airplane. We dont know when hell be back again...
Hes in a fabled place called 'New Zealand' where the men are men, and the sheep are scared. There are Hobbits there too and an angry flaming eye ball.
Im gonna miss him, but hes hard at work doing the things that need to be done so that Swobo can continue in its ass kickingness.

I finally got my hands on a copy of the MASH SF flick and checked it out this weekend. I gotta say that after watching it, the entire time Blacksocks, Hightower and I were rolling over hill and dale on Saturday (not to mention being pelted by tiny hail stones for a bit of the ride that made me feel like I was under attack by an army of BB gun wielding lunatics) I entertained memories of ripping through the hills of San Francisco.

Say what you will about the track bike phenomenon, but this film, along with its beautiful packaging and awesome photographs in the accompanying book is really worth picking up and adding to your collection, and in my humble opinion, Co-producer Mike Martins bit in the DVDs extras made me smile ear to ear, which after my recent barrage of Botox injections is a rare occurrence indeed.

This weekend I got an email from a fella named Jay in which he turned us onto a bacon wallet, which is much more convenient then the bacon wallet Ive been attempting to carry.

Jay also said something that I need to mention. The other day when introducing the Swobo family to any folks that had come by from The Bike Snobs page, Id said that we were a tiny company consisting of five employees. That would be El Corpo, Erin the sales maven, Sky, The Skipper and myself.
I sorely neglected to include Jay as the sixth employee, for he is the one that not only survived on a steady diet of nothing and Pepsi through the entire process of rebuilding our website from the ground up, but continues to work tirelessly behind the scenes in maintaining the website as well as defending us from the myriad of electronic headaches on a daily basis.
Youre not just chopped liver Jay. Youre our chopped liver, and I wouldnt have it any other way.

Hey, lookit whos getting all dolled up right;

"Stevil,

the local temperature officially hit 50° at the MSP airport yesterday. This is fortunate as it coincides with the Slick 50 Beard-Off Spring Classic tomorrow morning. And that means it is time to disengage from winter beard mode into something more sanguine for the Spring season.

Without further ado, I present to you, my moustache, (Inspired by One-Eyed Zeke, and countless others):

xo,
-Hurl"

Its truly a magical time of the year, ladies and gentlemen.

And speaking of magical, Billy got ahold of us to lay out the events of their last bicycle freakout in Golden Gate Park.

(Some baaaaaad things have happened in that tunnel.)

If your brain is feeling thirsty, why not stop by for the full skinny, and a drink of dirt at Ye Old Soil Saloon(dot)com.

The good people at True Temper heard my cry for help concerning the tire rubbage on my Dirtbombs fork that Id illustrated a few weeks back and took immediate action, as Thursday morning found the UPS man darkening our door holding a new fork for me, which solves all of my previous concerns.

I appreciate that the folks at True Temper were airing on the side of cautious in my situation.
I, unlike Warpath, like the front teeth I was bred with.

Im going to throw this out here because Im not quite sure how this week is going to unfold, but The Skipper loaded up a truck with a couple of motor bikes, a months worth of sustainables, a whole lot of psychedelics and ran for the hills on Friday.
No doubt he was sorely due for a break, but this leaves me running the whole show. The days may be long, and I dont know what kind of juice Im going to have to maintain expounding on the virtues of bummer life avoidence. I say this simply to let you all know that if the posts dont come with as much frequency, its because Im buried under a pallet of wool jerseys and track hubs.
As youve come to expect however, Im going to do the very best job I know how.
Keep a candle lit for me.

In my possible absence however, and to continue the good times rolling I offer this;

I invite The Bummer Life audience to write a haiku that makes for an appropriate accompaniment for this photo of GenO. The author of the piece that is deemed worthy will receive a gift package generously donated by our good friends at Soulcraft of one of their world famous 'Oly' ringer Ts and two pairs of their highly sought after elite edition socks.
Now put pen to paper, and get crackin'.

The successor to the creative writing throne will be chosen on friday, Im guessing.

As Ive mentioned every Monday for nearly the last two years, we hope its a good one, and keep putting one foot in front of the other until Friday graces us with its ever loving embrace.