As Ghostship Matt says, "Emmas a lucky girl."

No doubt. Happy, hairy birthday Emma. Heres your present.

CFO writes;

"-'The Future is Unwritten' may be the best movie ever....this probably will be second"

Again- No doubt.

Evan wrote in to let us know he has more fun then we do;

"I was lucky enough to be at the Rothbury Festival last weekend and spotted some of your wares at the Clif/Trek 2 mile challenge booth. I wanted to take it off off the rack and ride it, walking's for the birds.

Incredibly good music, vibes and weather, and now it's back to the grind. Complete avoidance of said bummer-life, though. If memories were currency I'm a rich bastard...

evan"

You know, our friend Elmes was out there working with the Clif Bar folks, and when we crossed paths when I was back in Colorado, he was still raving about it. He also said that everybody was super stoked with the Swobo bikes. Especially the individual who helped themselves to one.
Bike thieves obviously have good taste.

Slappy writes;

"Well Hello there, hopefully you're doing fantastically well, in the off chance that there is any correlation to Cycling; Perhaps you'd be interested in The fresh STomparillaz bi-cycling jersey.

Guaranteed to be the greatest piece of lycra to be wearing at any time ever again. There will be an upside down sentence wrapping the bottom of the jersey which you can lift up and pretend to read at any time. Anyone and everyone fond of stomping who pre-orders will have their name in that sentence somewhere. (although if you choose to deny everything we can write it invisibly). I'll probably wear two on the coast to coast ride this fall, for safety, love safety. If you like lycra and want to get involved with the imminent STomparillaz Jersey order, they'll be in the $90 ish range barring the apocalypse, in which case you will be refunded in snakeskin. More information
thanks A Lot - And have a LOvely summer
Max"

And if you cut it into little squares and put one in your mouth, the purple monkey will most certainly grab you by the electric brain banana.

As I mentioned before, Ive got a pile of stuff from folks that Ive kinda dropped the ball on getting around to posting. George wrote last week with the kind of fare that forms the foundation of bummer life avoidence;

"well dude,
we had one hell of a 4th of July Celebration - fish fry, smoked wild boar, whitetail, fried potatoes and onions, patron, 4wheelers, swimming holes, croquet, sunshine.

leather clad grandpa shredding walmart specials (last year he wheelied the 4 wheeler)

then we jumped into the week with a killer tuesday night ride, new trails what else do you need and then 3 hours later we're pounding beer and eating wings.

yes. hike a bike section, death gnar, baby heads and full on adult heads to throttle through at mach 5. lets do this shit!

Newsflash: this guy celebrated his independence day by submitting his 2 weeks to the bummer life issuer. let's hope that the life is going to jump back into fuller speed.

whatever - its time for shut eye and thursday night ride dreams.
killin it.
snap,
g"

Ive said it before, and Ill say it again. George has the life that the rest of us strive for.

Speaking of which, Captain Dave is still kicking ass and taking names in the category 8.5 races.

Seconds after this shot was taken, he dismounted his trusty steed and kicked the crap out of those two kids on the scooters.
Just cause...

Now back to current events.. Ben writes;

"Stevil,
Ben from The Alt. Yesterday was the annual Bastille Day Block Party at Barbette here in Mpls. Every year our BMX team does a demo there, but this year we decided to try something new that was an equal crowd pleaser. Adults racing on Strider childrens bikes. Brilliant.
Notice One on One's own Zito getting aced.."

Give the poor sap a break.. Strider bikes are, what?.. Like 8 inches tall, and Zito is somewhere in the neighborhood of 101 inches taller then that?
Poor guy didnt stand a chance.

Ann wrote in and sent us a picture of GeneO... I mean Oscar;

"Our dog oscar waiting for us to finish beers before mt biking"

Ann, Id say Oscar is an especially handsome hound, even if he wasnt wearing such fetching head gear.

..Fetching.. Get it?
I swear this stuff just happens naturally. Its like Im at the keyboard and somebody else is driving.

Being in this somewhat visible position lends to sometimes existing in a fairly venerable state. Ive never been one to conceal my feelings, so as the curator for a good portion of the content that you read here, the risk I run is that people could possibly take advantage of said venerability.
Luckily, for the most part, I find that Im among friends here, which was proven to me with unflinching certainly during the current upset within the confines of Anheuser Bush.

Case in point, Joe sent this article on about the turbulent emotions whirling around this undoing of what some feel to be the only pillar of true blue Americanism left.

Some folks, myself included, fear that our Budwesier will no longer stand for the hard working, blue collar American, who just want to get shitfaced and play some pinball after a day in the proverbial salt mines and will soon cater to the whims of the sashaying debutante, fickle in their ways, just riding the coat tails of whatever trend or fad happens past.
We need to stand tall together and demand that our tradition stay true to who we are and what we believe, though in the back of my head, there is the nagging little voice of insecurity and uncertainty.

Now, with that being said, from the bottom of my heart I appreciate that you all have taken my feelings into consideration, during this, one of my darkest hours, and offered support and guidance so that we might emerge from this together as a stronger and more unified force.

Its a long, rough road ahead, but with you all at my back, I have no doubt that I will emerge victoriously on the other side.