for the few people who read this before you can now link my blog through the pilot blog links at offcamber.com you have some other good reads to go along with my own. i like the stories about the rides in from nederland in any weather with happy people doing what they love. thanks to whit for the warm welcome! i feel very lucky to have the ability to ride a bike whenever i please, not that it is going to change the world but it makes my world better everyday. i had two good rides yesterday, the commute made me happy to ride in minus 2 weather and then the rollers later gave me the chance to watch the 1999 het volk road race from belgium. it was classic late february weather, rainy all day. the race is realtively short by euro standards 202km, about 120 miles or so. the cobbled hills coming thick and fast throughout the middle portion of the race thin the field. one of my favorite riders, wilfried peters was one of stars of the race. every time the pace would slow he would go on the front to raise the pace to protect his team leaders. without fail everytime work needed to be done it was peters doing it. then when the winning attack was made he sat on the eventual winners wheel to the end not working but giving him the win b/c he had done the work to make the attack stick. honor among riders, no sitting on and then pipping the guy in the sprint. road cycling is so different form moutain, the solitary suffering of mountain can be almost peaceful where the hectic nature of constant attacks in road racing can be unsettling. a la flahute...like wild gease. thanks for reading