My first article as an intern...

... though they didn't put my name down beside it... ah well.

Greene and Howe Win The 34th U.S. Bank Pole, Pedal, and Paddle

On May 15, competitors stood at the start line of the The 34^th U.S. Bank Pole, Pedal, and Paddle in Bend, Oregon. After a cold and wet spring, the weather cooperated with 76 degrees and an overcast sky.

The race started at Mt. Bachelor, with a moderate Grand Slalom alpine run, followed by a five mile cross country skate race, a 23 mile road ride down into the town of Bend, OR, a five mile trail run by the river, a mile and a half paddle, and finished with a half mile sprint.

The MBSEF fundraiser event brought in 985 entries with 3,005 racers competing as teams, pairs and individuals. According to Race Director, Molly Kelley, 50 percent of participants come from out of town.

“It was the largest we’d ever seen,” said Kelley, who, before she was involved with the race, used to leave town because it would fill up with people coming in to compete and to watch.

This year’s winner, and five-time champion, was Marshall Greene. He found it to be exciting but also a relief because he worried about XC Oregon teammate, Andrew Boone. “I was racing scared,” Greene admitted.

Greene accidentally flipped his boat while getting in at the paddle transition, something that could have cost him the race. “It was time for a snap decision,” he said. “Take it back to shore to dump or race with a bit of extra weight.”

He decided to race with the extra weight and won.

His favourite part though, was the support of spectators, “Having won before, lots of people have learned my name and having them all cheer for me by name was pretty awesome.”

Boone switched up his training this past winter, from base miles on the bike to skiing and racing as an associate for XC Oregon. “I was amazed at how quickly I was able to train at a high level on the bike [after finishing the ski season].”

Boone expected to make a move in the cycling leg – his primary sport – but had flat legs after the ski and couldn’t get his heart rate up. He ended up second, three seconds behind Greene. However, it didn’t keep him from enjoying the experience. “I love the crowds and the enthusiasm the whole town of Bend has during the event. It seems like everyone in town all of a sudden has a kayak on the roof of their car.”

On the women’s side, Stephanie Howe was the overall winner of the elite women.

“My goal this year was to podium – I had no idea I was going to win. It didn’t actually hit me that I could win until I was finishing the kayak leg of the race.”

She was fourth going into the running leg, three minutes behind eventual second place, Sarah Max. “I was hammering pretty hard but it felt good. The run to the finish was awesome – I was smiling the whole time.”

Max had issues of her own, tipping her boat twice during the paddle leg. “Going around the first buoy, the wind, my exhaustion and the pressure got the best of me and I went over… I almost caught Stephanie going into the second buoy but tipped again.”

When asked whether they’ll race again next year, the competitors were of mixed feelings.

“Going into the race, I had made up my mind to not race as an individual next year because it really does consume a lot of time,” said Max, “[but] I’m not sure how I feel about being the reigning champion of the Pole, Pedal, Paddle, Swim, Paddle, Swim, Paddle.”

Boone, who raced the PPP as a kid, plans to make it an annual tradition as long as he continues to live “in this great town.”

Mascot Theory

So, the London mascots are here to be seen... The National Post put out this article titled "Olympic Mascots: Who's laughing now, London?" which made me burst into laughter... whoever came up with that headline deserves a prize of the Ed Henczel variety.

Here's the article, if you want to read it.

Then you can go to the London Olympic Mascot Website Here

Wenlocke and Mandeville are pieces of steel molded from leftovers of the piping for the London Olympic stadium. Or at least that's what the video that they created on their website says.

They've each got one eye that's supposed to be a camera, they don't talk, they barely have mouths, and they look almost like a cross between characters off a TV show I used to watch as a kid:

1 binome

+

1 null

=

"Oh hey guys... nope, this isn't some sort of joke... we're the mascots..."

See where I'm coming from? C'mon, England... 18 months and god knows how many hundreds of thousands of British pounds and this is what you come up with?

Alright, alright, throwback to the working class - steel. Okay.

One eyeball in each mascot - camera, eyes are all on London. Sure.

But they still come off looking like a cross between a Star Trek symbol gone wrong and some sort of sextoy...

People like cute and cuddly. Especially when it comes to mascots. Especially when it comes to Olympic mascots. You should've seen it here during the Olympics. Sumi, Quatchi and all the rest were fuzzy little creatures that your 3 year old was not afraid to snuggle up in their bed with and they were flying off the shelves. Mandeville and Wenlock look like the stuff that three year old will be revisiting as an origin point for therapy years later. Okay, okay, maybe not quite so bad but really? This is what you really want to go with?

Even the names sound stiff... Wenlock - named for the village that hosted a precursor to the Modern Olympic Games in the 19th century, and Mandeville - which more likely sounds like the setting of a bad Sherlock Holmes knock-off or Thomas Hardy sequel than the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.

Aaaanyway, I'll stop whinging... I'm sure they'll be a great splash... though judging from the media backlash, this seems more like a karmic smack to the British for when their press tried to bring down the Vancouver Games...

It's like getting a sunburn because you forgot to put on your sunscreen and the press is that jerk who comes along and thinks it's funny to wind up and give you a big slap... Sorry, London... By taking on the Games, you've just lost a slap bet and this is Slap #1.

Hypocrisy is the Lubricant of Society

Okay, this has been something that's been bugging me for awhile since we learned about it in ethics class...

Chris, Khaled, and I were riding back home after Hammerfest to Horseshoe Bay (haha) and down by Science World last Sunday and we came across a police car blocking the seawall. There were police boats out on the water using poles to try and dredge the water. My first thought was that someone went in to do a post-race cold "bath" to flush the lactate out, slipped, bashed his/her head, and went under.

I was partly right.

Using my super sleuth j-school skills (aka being in the right place at the right time and eavesdropping on a cop), I found out that a 20 year old male came down post-Sun Run, took off all his clothes, went into the water, and didn't back come out.

The article's here...

So, the deal is that, as a rule, suicides are not reported on. Which sucks because now I won't get any more information on it as it is being treated as a suicide... It's more confusing to me than anything...

Suicides supposedly incur copycatting. It's why you always hear about "incidents" on Lion's Gate Bridge, instead of what's actually happening. Which is bullshit really because you're a) just using a euphemism to try to pretty it up instead of saying what's really happening, and b) it's completely ridiculous because everyone knows exactly what you're talking about. Which is almost insulting.

Anyway, that's not my real issue. My real issue with it is to do with the copycat factor. You think that if a depressive hears about someone else killing themself, they're going to think, 'Gee, a bridge. Never thought of that one before. I'm in.' No. Fair enough the thought of it being the easy way out and 'wouldn't it be easier' and yada yada but I think there's more of a chance that someone's going to copycat a school shooting or a murder than a suicide. And we still report on those...

Mental health is one of the biggest issues right now and I don't think there's enough focus on it. I've dealt with the issue of suicide in my life - people around me. It's hard, it's scary, and it's messy to deal with because you're terrified you're not helping... that maybe you might make it worse... but I don't think that's reason enough to not talk about it.

Or maybe it's being brushed aside, judging from all the over-medicating we seem to be doing in this day and age.

I can't really come to terms with that stuff. I mean, I understand that some people need medication in order to balance their brain chemistry because it actually is out of wack but I'm afraid that some people are being given stuff to cope when they don't really need it. Like, it's just a quick fix. Kids as young as 4 are being given drugs in order to balance them out... 4! You've got to be kidding me! What could they possibly need drugs for at that age? I mean, sure, the chemistry imbalance again, sure, but there are way too many being medicated to blame on that.

I dunno...

Adventures of Tomato Girl

I've been meaning to write in the past week but haven't because it's been a pain in the ass to not have reliable internet. Khaled's since fixed that with his awesome Britishness... okay, maybe with his mad skills but whatever. The Googles are mine! Bwahaha

So, last weekend went climbing with Khaled and Andy up at Squamish. So awesome. I originally went to take some pics but they convinced me to climb in my skater shoes. It went alright except regularly I wear them loose enough to be able to slip in and out of so about a quarter of the way up I almost lost the right one and then halfway up almost lost it again. Ah well. Next time I'll have real climbing shoes.

Khaled kicking some ass up the rock.

Sunday I went riding with Louise, Seb, and Khaled. We rolled out to Richmond thinking that it would be drier out there. It wasn't. We did River Road towards New West and back through Burnaby. By the time I got home, my hands were white and my feet turned funny colours in the shower and itched like fiends.

The "Get a Job" front has been pretty slow... I've dropped some resumes off and had some interviews for serving jobs. I kinda want to get a job with some quick money (Tiiiiiips!). haha

Had an interview Friday with the Museum of Vancouver for their summer program assistant position. I think it went really well but then the interview was pretty chill and the interviewer was really casual so it was pretty easy to get through it.

Went frisbee golfing Friday afternoon with Nick and Jon. I was awful. I don't have the confidence to just huck the driver hard because I'm afraid my skills (or lack thereof) will a) put it through a neighbourhood window, or b) hit a tree three feet away and come back to smash me in the face. Well, okay, not quite that suck but you never know.

That night I went to see Exit Through the Gift Shop with friend of friends, Seb.

Trailer here

It's about one of the most infamous graffiti artist in the world, Banksy, created this film about a dude who became obsessed with the street art culture and became one himself. It was pretty interesting because it felt like he spent all this time with these graffiti artists then, when he decided to become one himself, he used the endorsements of these other infamous artists to sell himself to the public. When he was interviewed, Banksy seemed kinda pissed. I would be... haha

Banksy Art:

Today was Bikes and Beers at the Beach Day. I originally had the idea of doing a long ride today - Horseshoe Bay or Lighthouse Park and then chillaxing out there but Cody proposed the idea of a more relaxed ride in town. So, we met up down by Super Champs and rode up and around Stanley Park to hang out at Third Beach. It's my favourite beach because it takes a lot more to get there than, say, English Bay or Kits Beach.

It was lovely. The sun was out in full force. Even though I had SPF 30 on, and reapplied it over and over, I'm still Tomato Shouldered Linnaea, which sucks. I need to drink more water. :p I was roasted so decided I might take off for the day, maybe come back home and nap. Louise convinced me to go for a jump in the ocean (it was awesome!) and then was nice enough to lend me a long sleeve shirt so I could hang out a bit longer. I'm burnt anyway but ah well.

Tonight was a showing at Grandview Park put on by the R.A.I.N. There's been talks of a redevelopment of Grandview Park by the "Friends of Grandview Park" in order to essentially get the riff raff out.

From their site:

the park is…

1. “Chronically overrun by illegal inhabitants.”

2. Used for “drug dealing and hard drugs.”

3. “The chosen location of illegal protesters.”

4. “The design of the playground encourages loiter¬ing of non-families.”

5. “The unsanctioned use of tennis courts by the bi¬cycle polo club”
means that the “… tennis courts (are) no longer available for parents
to teach their kids how to ride bikes.”

It's a little silly, you have to admit.

Drug dealing and hard drugs? Well, it's kind of a stretch to think that this is the only place that's going to go down. Granted, fair enough that you don't want to deal with that sort of thing if you have kids playing there.

The chosen location of illegal protesters? Have you been to the Art Gallery? Do you hear them whining? Give me a break.

Encouraging loitering of non-families? Oh, I'm sorry. I can't go play on a swingset or sit on a park bench in Grandview because I didn't get knocked up with a kid to bring with me? I have to go visit Rent'a Kid before I can hang out there? There are no words.

And teaching your kid to ride bikes in a tennis court? Are you kidding me? I learned on grass so that when I bailed (and you do...), it didn't give me road rash all up the left side of my body.

It's like these people sat down and pulled out a barrel of excuses and at the end of their meeting all they had was the grimy sludge at the bottom but they still slapped it on paper and trundled down to the Parks Board to complain. Use your energy for better use, kids. Maybe ask for more green space so everyone can enjoy these things. Bike polo players need milieus too.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to go ride Horseshoe Bay. Kind of regretting putting out an official "meet up here at 10 am" though I'm sure everyone will be off brunching with their mothers anyway. :p

Photo du Jour:

Corey's neighbour's cat Blossom. She's cute and cuddly and is known to have fleas. I miss snuggly furry little creatures.

Quote du Jour:

"If the English language made any sense a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur." - Doug Larson