NEBRASKA REPRESENT!

I was quite literally drawn to tears with pride by the new April issue of Dirt Rag. The first thing I saw when I opened up the pages was Omaha's Ryan Atkinson on the Contributor page. Nice! I'll get to his article in a bit.

Next thing I know, I'm flipping through the pictures from the North American Hanbuilt Bicycle Show (NAHBS), and holy shit, there's a picture of Rick Hunter... wearing a MONKEY WRENCH CYCLES t-shirt!!! No freaking way?! In full color too. That, my friends, is certifiably radical.

So I get to the last page of the magazine, and I'm thinking that I'd missed Ryan's article. Nope. It's the last page article -- the "Last Chance For Gas" column.

And friends, let me tell you, in 400 words at most, Ryan eloquently stated what many of us have been discussing in small circles for quite a while now -- that corn ethanol is a poor energy solution, and that it's legislation into prominence is one of the largest political boondoggles of our generation. It literally brought me to tears with its stunningly straightforward delivery and solid backing facts. I highly suggest you check it out. www.dirtragmag.com.

So I get done with the new Dirt Rag, and get ready to ride with MW. On my way over, I ran into Nate, who was rolling around on his Jeff Jones, running some errands. He hadn't seen the picture of Rick Hunter yet, so I got to tell him about that. He was stoked. He'd just given Rick the t-shirt the moment before that photo was shot. Apparently he told Rick, "dude, you just covered up your own logo," and Rick was like "whatever dude. This t-shirt is cool." Rick likes t-shirts. I bought a couple from him out of his trunk last time he was in Lincoln (I'm pretty sure it was the last time...).

I'm stoked about the Dirt Rag thing, because this is the first issue of my new 2-year subscription. I had no idea the were printing any of that good stuff when I signed up. I just met them down at the 24 Hours of Landahl last year, and they were all super cool and down-to-earth, as most journalists are (ahem...) so I figured I'd better support their magazine. I like that that they've got strong ties to the midwest too.

So it's them and BIKE. I should probably get Singletrack too, but geez, then I'd need to get Mountain Flyer too. That's a slippery slope... Yeah, I could easily be a media ho... It could be worse, right?

Cheers,
MG