OH MY GOD, WE'RE HAVING A FIRE... SALE

Evacuate the schoolchildren!

Speaking of evacuation, you know the Tea Fire you've seen on the news lately, that one in Montecito? It came within a half mile of burning down my grandmother's house. Check out some of the pictures of it. Also, my favorite climb was burned from the base most of the way to the top. And the top was burned over the summer.

To show you just how close it got: See the road in the bottom of this picture I stole from Getty/AFP? I ride it every single day when I'm in Santa Barbara. And it takes me ten minutes to get to this house from my grandma's front door.


I ride under these high tension power lines also. They're in the hills above the city.


And my dad, who just happened to be in town, took this picture from the back deck before they were evacuated for three days.


So it's been a harrowing couple of days, wondering if the house would burn or not. In the end, the flames were contained about half a mile from her house in the foothills. If you're interested or intrepid enough (Bryan, I'm thinking of you here), you can check out how close Kenmore Place is to the fire boundaries. It's in Mission Canyon, an areas adorned by permanent "Extreme Fire Danger" signs and one of the areas in the city designated by the fire department as "a loss:" if the flames get in, it cannot be defended and the whole canyon will be left to burn.

So I'm glad it didn't come to that, because we just bought our tickets to go out there for Christmas.

Hey guys, remember that time this happened to me? Yeah. Me too.

Makin' enemies

Apparently, I'm making enemies at record pace in the cycling community. I would imagine I'm reasonably well respected in the cycling community - I try not to step on anybody's toes, and though I may not have the greatest results, I think they're good enough to get me some esteem, right? And in general, I think I'm usually a nice guy on the bike. I don't suck wheels, and I try my best to be inclusive on group rides.

And yet, I am getting grief from a fellow cyclist via Facebook.

Remember that junior from Minnesota who raced at Norfolk over the summer? He's a strong cyclist, but his primary sport is speedskating. Apparently he's really good, as his goal is to represent the USA in the 2010 Olympics. He won the RR and did well in the crit, if I remember correctly. And I do, because I have pictures of the podiums (podia?) in both cases.

Speaking of those pictures, a few of them ended up on my Facebook in an album handily titled "Norfolk Classic 2008." Initially, it was pretty much just pictures of Ian, Matt, and me, as those were my only Kaos fb friends. But then a few more people were tagged as I friended more NE cyclists (Note: feel free to friend me). I believe it was Jon Downey who tagged Colton Barrett in this very photo:
The caption read "John finished on the podium in the 3s. The junior who won it is a 17-yr-old Olympic speedskating hopeful. I don't know what that means though, because if you think about it, I'm an Olympic hopeful too. Just because I have no chance getting to the Olympics doesn't dampen my hopes of participating."

I thought it was funny. You may or may not feel the same way.

Anyway, Colton commented on it and said "That wasn't necessary." I figured it was a joke, until I got a message from him late last night. He, apparently, didn't see the humor in it. the message reads as follows:

"Hey, so why do you hate me man? Totally ragging on me in that photo where I'm first on the podium, that someone tagged me in. I'm not gonna sit here and bitch you out, but for someone you didn't even talk to when I was at those races in Norfolk and don't know either. Probably shouldn't be doing that because a Jr. beat your team mate. It was a good race, i had fun, but seriously man, kinda makes you look like an ass. Makes your team look that way too. I showed some of the skaters that live with me, they thought the same. Don't want to start an argument, just think about it. If you want me to explain the speedskating thing to you, thats fine. I will, because someone sent you in the wrong direction when the told you that. Olympic hopeful? I'm not just participating in a sport and hoping someday I'll get there. So just think about that.
Colton"

The message says he doesn't want to sit there and bitch me out, but it seems like it does just that. I was pretty confused when I read this. First off, I don't think it's offensive. I could see how it might irk some with gentler sensibilities, but really. This does not seem like a proportionate response. I was tempted to respond in kind, with a thorough bitching-out, but in the end I decided against such a rash measure. Though it is still pretty snarky:

"I'm sorry man, it's intended to be just a harmless joke. I meant no offense when I typed it up a few months ago, and I mean no offense now. I can even take it down if you insist.

Gotta learn how to take a joke."

I see the whole situation as material ripe for blogging. I do like the fact that I have found myself embroiled in an intra-peloton feud, though. Very Armstrong-Simeoni, and very pro.