What do you reckon that this dude isn’t in the best of graces with the German cycling community right now?

Sure… there’s been other recent poss-o’s.

Sure… there’s also been other recent confessions.

But this dude was the straw that broke the camels back and now thousands of German cycling fans are without the Tour on television. I bet his fan base took a hit on that one.

Also… on a lighter note… something for everyone to marinate on…

I’m in Vancouver right now and within a couple hours of the start of the Tour de Gastown criterium. This race has been going on for years and years. The course contains bricks… cobbles… and a brick/cobbled 150 degree turn every lap. Oh yeah, it’s also in the dark.

To make matters even sweeter….

drum roll please…

it’s been raining ALL day. As in since like 10:00am.

The phrase I like to hear best is…

“Well at least it’s raining hard enough to wash all the oils off the road”…

Really? Jeez… ok. Yeah… sure… I guess so.

I think people just say this to make you feel better about the fact that you have to go out and hammer yourself into the ground in the pissing cold rain.

I’d rather they just be honest and say…

“Jeez buddy, it’s slicker than turtle snot out there. That 150 degree turn is sure going to suck! Better have your skiddie on your head extra tight tonight. You should try and not stack it in one of the many crashes! Good thing for me though, is that if you do, I have my camera ready.”

I’d quietly reply, “Yeah, thanks tiger”.

That’s all for now folks. I’m going to go pull my bathing suit out to wear over my team kit. It’s going to be like riding on a slip-and-slide tonight!

Just another glorious day at the office…

Bye.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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Some are doing a really big tour around France.

Some just finished a tour around Austria.

I just finished a tour around White Rock.

White Rock?

Yeah, White Rock.

The final scoreboard read Matt Shriver winning the opening hill climb and holding it all the way to also take the overall win. But it didn’t come without an absolute shit fight from the Symmetrics guys. They had a full arsenal of riders there against our 5 guys. Subsequently… and impressively… they wen’t 1-2-3. I like racing with those guys. They’re tough as hell to race against, but if you ask me, it makes for much better racing. Much respect.

Our host housing wasn’t to shabby either…

Rough view of the ocean to wake up to every morning.

One night there was even a raccoon in the backyard…

You can see his beady little eyes in the picture… plotting, scheming. He fell in the pool before climbing out to cruise around the yard for a bit. I was going to pull out the digital camera, turn it on, and run across the yard charging at the thing…

A little entertainment… Capture it all on film for you folks… All in the name of the blog you know.

But I was told that would be a very very poor decision to make. Apparently, raccoon’s are cute, cuddly, savage, little rip your face off with their sharp dagger like claws when they feel threatened kind of creatures.

Actually… the more I thought about it… and logic stepped in…

Blogging has risks, but I just didn’t want to have to run across the yard.

Might pull a hamey or something. You never know.

Heading in to downtown Vancouver now. Gastown is tomorrow night.

We’ll talk later.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
3 Comments »

Greetings from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada…

um, North America, Earth, Milky Way,… um, big dark galaxy, Luke Skywalker’s home.

That about sums up exactly where I’m at. From the bottom straight to the top. Just so you know.

However, I didn’t get here without a brief stop in Seatle, Washington. I like Seatle. What a neat city. A few of the guys on the team and I met up with Johnny Sundt for a bit of a spin before leaving town. While riding, Johnny was giving us the grand tour of the area. We went by a cemetary and he pointed out that Bruce Lee was buried there. Then he mentioned that we were about to ride by the house where Kurt Cobain (of Nirvana fame) had lived with his wife Courtney Love and where he later committed suicide.

I typically like to see these kinds of things. Not places of death and injury… but, you know, “off-beat” landmarks and places. Example… at training camp we were riding down the coast just north of San Diego when a local mentions that we were about to ride by the house where the movie Top Gun was filmed. So… I grabbed the camera and did the whole toursit thing. You know… that kind of stuff.

Ok, back to the story…

Later in the ride Johnny took us back by Kurt Cobain’s old place. So… Matt and I stopped to snap a quick picture of the house.

All in the name of the blog people…

You’ve gotta fight… for your right… to blog. Write that down.

Johnny mentioned, “Wow, the gate’s open, it’s not normally open”.

So Matt pulled out his digital camera and snapped off a few pictures…

right as a car came down the driveway.

The cars stops, window rolls down, and the man driving it angrily says, “Did you just take a picture of me”?

Matt nicely replies, “No, I was trying to take a picture of the house”.

“You just took a picture of me, my niece, and my car didn’t you”?

Again Matt nicely replies, “Um, no, I’m sorry but I was trying to take a picture of the house. Do you mind if I take a picture of the house”?

“Yes, I do mind. Erase the picture”, the guy demands.

Not sure what to do, Matt responds, “Ok, I will”.

Matt goes on to fidget with his digital camera. Meanwhile the agitated dude in the car is also fidgeting with something. I figure he’s about to either get out of the car and smash us or call the cops so we high tail it out of there.

We never saw the dude again.

And… I bet you’re wondering if Matt deleted the pictures?

Well, click here and see for yourself.

You’ve gotta fight, for your right, to blog.

Later.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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A few weeks ago, I went shopping for some new clothes.

Dress slacks, button down shirts, polos, etc.

Clothes to make me look nice… (jeez…best of luck clothes!)

Around and around and around I walked…

As I looked for shirts, it became apparant.

“Where in sam’s hell are all the smalls”, I muttered.

Then, as I looked for slacks with a size 30 waist, it became clear as mud.

“This is bull sh!$”, I muttered… this time slightly louder.

It seems that as I’ve gotten older… and continued to ride my bike… I’ve ridden my way right out of the normal clothing sizes and more into the ranges of “weird little guy with the little waist and big thighs”.

Size small shirts and pants with a 30 inch waist are nearly an extinct breed these days. Large, X-Large, XX-Large, even XXX-Large… Holy crap… Medium is now the new small… and small is now the new “good luck you skinny little girl”.

Needless to say, after much searching, digging, questioning myself, and then some more digging, I managed to find some clothes that fit me.

However… that wasn’t until after I had tried on a few pairs of slacks where one single lunge, squat, fart or quad flex would have split the pants right down both seams… Or a few shirts that looked like I was lost deep inside the depths of a Ralph Lauren wonderland playing dress-up with some larger, possibly even described as a “grown-up’s”, more normal sized clothing.

Folks, I know some of us share the same pains. I just wish there was more of us so that it would be more profitable to start a “Small and Still Fit” Store. The kind of store where a man who weighs less now than he did in High School can go to comfortably shop. Maybe we could even place it right next to those “Big and Tall” men’s stores… you know, diversify the shopping complex.

In the past, I’ve just resorted to shopping in the boy’s section. Don’t laugh. Or at least wait two minutes so that I can tell a story…

A few years back, Suzanne and I went shopping in Brugge, Belgium, for some clothes. We stopped at a very popular clothing store in Brugge’s city centre called H&M. Frustrated with the men’s clothing selection, and of course when nobody was looking, I snuck over to the boy’s section to see what they had…. and what would you know…

A gold mine…

So I bought a polo shirt. It was green with white stripes and it quickly became my most favorite shirt in my entire closet.

That was until Suzanne and I ran into a 6 year old boy wearing my exact shirt.

Subsequently, I never wore it again.

It was tragic.

Take care folks… and keep on wearing baggy clohting because frankly it’s too difficult to find clothing that properly fits your oddity of a body.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
6 Comments »

I’m moving to Canada…

that’s all I have to say.

Click the link.

And be speachless.

You can even watch the news cast of the story.

Heavens to Betsy…

Lock the booze cabinet up people!

There’s little one’s running around.

I have to go now.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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Well my trusty readers of the gospel of AKingsLife, it’s officially official…

This guy right here is a fully licensed and active Arizona realtor.

Last week, I wrapped up the final bits of the required classes, tests, and applications needed to get a real estate license in the State of Arizona. I’m also very excited to say that I’ll be hanging my license with Keller Williams Southwest Realty and working very closely with Phoenix cyclist Greg Kilroy and his Velocity Group.

The Velocity Group will offer me a variety of benefits which most importantly includes working in a team environment. Working within a team of specialists will not only allow me to continue to learn and grow as an agent, but it will also give me the support needed to balance real estate with my passion for cycling. Without a team environment, it’s kind of hard to establish a client relationship and then say, “alright gotta go race my bike now, see ya!”. With that said, I’m very lucky to have found the support needed to allow me to continue to pursue cycling while also exploring my long standing interest in the real estate world. And hey… it never hurts to subsidize the ‘ol pro cyclists paycheck.

So for now this guy right here is learning the ropes. In the afternoons when I’m done training, I walk around the Keller Williams office wide eyed and doing my best to not look too much like a doofus. Actually, I’ve already managed to find myself a client and have a few more promising leads to pursue. I’m also working hard to develop and implement a system for referring out of state residents to the finest realtor in their respective area. Through cycling I’ve traveled, networked, and grown to know many people scattered all across the country, and there’s a lot of them out there looking to buy or sell property but haven’t a clue where to start or who to call. Finally, keep your eyes peeled for a revamping of AKingsLife to also include some real estate information and contact info.

All this while also training hard and getting ready to leave on July 11th for a series of races in Vancouver. And also taking a marketing course at the local community college… Jeez.

You know, some riders work jobs in the winter for spare cash…

some riders use their reputations to put together winter training camps…

and some use their knowledge to get into coaching other cyclists.

Former sporting legends John Elway and Hank Aaron both have car dealerships.

George Foreman has a grill.

But me… well, I’m heading the other direction and getting into real estate.

I was always told I come from a strong blood line of wheelin’ and dealin’ King men.

Take care people.

By the way, Happy 4th of July from me and mine, to you and yours.

Categories: Daily Jibber Jabber.
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