throet

It will be interesting to see if the Blazers and Nuggets can keep it up. I'd of course like to see the Rockets turn things around and expect that the Jazz and Pelicans will do so as well. No surprise with Toronto or Milwaukee in the East, but expected the Celtics to get off to a better start. I'm sure they'll pick up momentum as the season progresses. The Rockets looked more like last year's team last night against the Pacers. Lights out 3-point shooting. Live by the sword or die by the sword.

Exhilarating! Dude combines so much raw power with all of the finesse - nobody else quite like him IMO.

Double Down was fine yesterday afternoon and this morning. I was even able to traverse Snot Rock without putting a foot down today. No mud anywhere on DD really, but I can't attest for any of the other trails since I confined myself to DD. Came across a few other riders out there; so I'm assuming some of those ventured into other areas of Brushy.

I'll probably be riding Brushy at least one mid-morning this week, although if possible I want to try and get a lap in out at LGT as well in prep for DS next week. I'll send you a PM. I rode Double Down in both directions yesterday afternoon and this morning and it was fine, albeit with some slick rocks. I didn't ride anything else out there though, and suspect it is probably quite wet in spots. If it doesn't rain too much today or tomorrow, I think it will be fine at least on Wed.

This works well when industrial leaders are well principled. Unfortunately greed has gotten in the way of that over the years and it isn't working so well anymore. When I worked for a catholic health system, one of the founding Daughters of Charity told me that the original leaders had a self-imposed rule that the top pay in the organization could only be 20 times that of the lowest pay, e.g. if the housekeepers made $25K per year, the CEO could only make $500K. That seemed fair to me, but at that time our system-wide CEO made 250 times that of a housekeeper. And that was in a not-for-profit, faith-based organization! A for-profit health insurance CEO makes 700 times what a claims examiner makes. I'm all for rewarding talent, hard work, results, etc, but free enterprise has become more about greed and corruption than about building the strength of our nation in my opinion. Even the CEOs and other top executives who fail miserably end up leaving companies with enough money to retire on. Where's the equity in that, and how is that helping the vast majority of Americans who struggle to just make ends meet? The era of the 1%ers, who by the way control 38% of the nation's wealth, is going to get worse, not better, unless something changes.

@Schrute nice win for your Spurs last night. Despite the high turnovers, they were hitting clutch shots consistently, which is what wins games. The Rockets are a mess and I really don't even know what to make of it. We did lose some key defensive role players, but the bottom line is that the FG% and especially 3-pt FG% are way off from last year. They can't even make easy layups this year. Unfortunately D'Antoni is not the kind of coach who is going to get them passionate about winning or create the chemistry that creates better ball movement. I'm just glad that I didn't purchase a League Pass subscription!

Supposed to rain later today; so riding early is best option. I would think City Park is probably the best close-in option, but RPR is definitely the go-to on days like this if you don't mind making the trip.

I have not seen the studies, but would guess that this is very true. My dad was homeless for periods of his adult life and would have likely remained that way on a permanent basis had his bipolar disorder not been designated as 100% service connected. That kept him closely connected to VA social workers who worked with my grandmother to keep him institutionalized. When the related violence became too much for my grandmother, I took over the role of legal guardian and the unpleasant task of keeping him locked up. He had $90K in the bank at the time from his disability checks piling up, but was not capable of independent living. When he was given access to his cash, he blew it on who knows what. There is no doubt at all that he preferred the streets over institutionalized living, especially during his manic states. I hated having to keep him locked up, sometimes in really horrid places that were extremely unpleasant to visit. Despite feeling guilty, I knew it was the right thing to do, especially given his propensity towards violence. I did my best to make things as bearable as possible for him, plenty of Kools, chocolates, clothing updates, portable radios, etc. Had the VA not arranged for and financed his lock ups, I'm really not sure that I would have intervened in the same way. In the end, he died a withered-up shell of the young man barely out of adolescence who was ushered onto the battlefront in Korea. I was with him at the VA hospital in San Antonio when he took his final breath, sadly feeling a huge sigh of relief myself knowing that he would finally find the solitude that had escaped him for the past fifty years. Even then it was only through the DNR under my hand that his wicked disease was conquered, with sepsis serving as the ultimate killer. As others have stated, homelessness will not go away until we as a society figure out how to cope with mental illness and substance abuse. It's not going to be an easy problem to solve, especially considering that funding for mental illness pales in comparison to heart disease, cancer, etc.

A Fender and a Gibson - aren't you lucky!

What's sad is that we haven't had a drop of rain since Sun, and yet the trails seemed wetter yesterday and today than they were Mon evening. The dirt on Deception has been fine with the exception of the same few wet spots, but the limestone has been super slick. Might be better now, but with the lower morning temps and high dew point we've been experiencing, the rocks just seem to stay wet until very late in the day. At least after this next wave of rain, we're supposed to be left with cooler, dryer air.

Just got this delivered today. It fits great and is more comfortable than my TLD A1 MIPS helmet. Got a good deal on it too!

Discussion on DS has gone dark! Is this thing going to be on as scheduled?

Now if only the fog would lift

One is red and one is blue

Anybody ever checked out Live at Daryl's House? I was never a huge fan of Hall & Oates but have grown to love Daryl's soulfulness, which really comes out in the countless ad hoc collaborations he recorded at his house. I've spent hours listening to the variety of guests, including the likes of Smokey Robinson, the Ojays, Joe Walsh, and Sammy Hagar. Here's one of my favs with Dave Stewart from the Eurhythmics, whose axe looks and sounds like a work of art.

Right on!

Rest day for me. Amazing how much more climbing you get in when it's cool enough to regularly ride Double Down.

They'll take good care of you I'm sure. Hope to see you out there again soon.

Not if it's Yes, ELP, or King Crimson!

Did they figure out what was causing that ratcheting noise from the rear hub? That was annoying as hell and couldn't be good for the bike or it's performance. Would you be buying the demo bike or a new one like it at that price?

Although a huge fan of rock-and-roll in the sixties and seventies, I never really caught on with the heavy metal stuff that emerged later. I do believe however that it had its roots in some of the stuff I listened to back in the day, like …… https://youtu.be/z6dVYk-1_j0

@Cafeend and @Chief great ride this morning despite the cool temps and slick morning dew. Ran into @X-Ray on Double Down after you guys dropped. He had intended on joining us but thought the start was at 8:30. Anyway, we ended up riding a good bit and the trails definitely improved as the sun started coming up. Might be tough to do for you working stiffs, but a later start would probably make for better riding with these cold mornings.

Either option works. Some manufacturers, like Intense, let you order online and ship to one of their affiliate bike shops for final assembly.

I still have and ride a 2014 Trek Remedy 29er that I bought at BSS on clearance. It has been relegated to my backup bike, but it's still very fun to ride, especially out of the saddle. Did 15 miles on it today at Brushy! Also, I've had nothing but good experiences at BSS and think it's great that we have a local shop that can offer such a selection, even on closeout bikes. To me the Fuel EX is worthy of consideration, along with the other bikes that have been mentioned in this thread. I rode a borrowed one in Colorado and it was good fun and a great climber.