March Bike Rides

Today was the 8th day of March and so happened to be one of my days off. The next few days don't look to promising weather wise, so I figured I should take advantage of the weather and get out for a real ride. I've been doing an indoor workout on Saturday's with my team and feel as though I am way ahead of where I was, fitness wise, last year. Still some kinks to be worked out fit wise, but, new cleats are in the near future so no reason to try to readjust the cleats now. They aren't too far off anyway. There is nothing quite like riding outside. Riding on a trainer, and riding hard, is good, however, is nothing like riding on the road. Don't get me wrong it is way helpful because I feel quite strong, at least stronger than last year. My brother probably has the same strength I have in two legs in one of his, but, hey...he's a PRO!

So todays ride took me out to Pewaukee Lake. As you can see in this photo,

it is still quite frozen. There were a couple of people out on the lake and it appeared like one of them was driving. I don't think it was a car, but, could have been an ATV or snowmobile I suppose. Either way, I thought it was crazy. There was one guy literally in the middle of the lake. I was good being on solid ground.

I was representin', both Velo Trocadero and my blood lines on The SHACK!

After stopping to take those beauty shots (I was eating Jelly Belly Sport Beans) I ate a part of a Clif Bar and continued on the ride. My goal was originally to go around the lake, however, that plan changed when I noticed the wind was blowing hard out of the east, which happened to be my way home. Instead of going around the lake, I decided on some hill repeats on Glacier Road. They were decent. Again, riding inside is good, but nothing like actually being outside.

Once I felt I had humiliated myself enough, I decided to head home. The wind was for sure out of the east. I put in a little effort on Hwy M to get through Pewaukee and past the gun club. Overall it was decent, nothing superb, but decent.

When I was home, I treated myself to the recorded Paris-Nice Versus coverage. I had already watched the stage in the morning but can't pass up High Definition cycling coverage. Seriously, it is the most beautiful thing!

That's all!

Liberalism and Democracy

I didn't start this blog to be about politics. I'd rather it be about fun things, however, now seems to be a good time to give a little rant about politics.

I am tired of it quite frankly. In case you haven't seen the news, Wisconsin has had ongoing protests at the Capitol for an entire 14 days. Yes, 14 days. The controversy stirs over the collective bargaining "rights" for public employees. It also stirs about a proposed increase contribution by public employees, which include teachers, to 5.8% contribution to their own pension, and an increase to 12.6% toward their health insurance. All have been met with extreme outrage by, most notably teachers, and public employee unions. In Wisconsin, if you are a public employee you are required to contribute to your union. No choice, they take the money out of your paycheck without you having an option.

Wisconsin is a big union state. A majority, if not all, of the contributions to Democrat political campaigns is done by unions. The largest union in the state is the teacher's union, I believe, not entirely sure though. Either way, the unions are a big contributor to the Democrat party. If you know anything about me I can't stand the Democrat party. But, each month $36 is removed from my paycheck under the guise of "Union dues." I am smart enough to know this goes directly, well maybe indirectly, to some democrat somewhere. I'd like that to not happen.

Anyway, back to the controversy. The first 6 days of this protest was put on by the teachers. Literally, classes and schools were closed so teachers could go to Madison to protest. Seriously. They then claimed it was "all about the children." Yes, those all important children who are NOT IN SCHOOL LEARNING! Eventually this protest became a national story and so now all the big union bosses are encouraging those protests to continue. All the while, they claim to agree to the increase in contributions for the public employee. They don't agree about the collective bargaining. Oh, I should mention, they are still able to bargain about their wage, just not the health insurance or other benefits.

A vote on this measure, which the Governor says will help to close a budget deficit, was supposed to happen about 3 weeks ago, but couldn't because the Democrat state senators who don't agree with the bill, fled the state. Got up and left, went to Illinois and are refusing to come back to work. They too have said they agree with the contributions part of the bill, but, they apparently don't agree with something else and they aren't necessarily saying what. If you are any kind of smart, you can gather they don't agree with the collective bargaining part because: They are democrats, they get money from unions and if collective bargaining and mandatory union membership is ended, they won't get as much money from the union because people like me may choose to not be in the union.

Yes, a long story, however, there is something troubling about all of it. On November 2nd, 2010, the State of Wisconsin elected a Republican governor and gave a majority of control back to the Republicans in both houses of the State Congress. 14 democrats, who choose not to go to work, are nullifying the election because they don't agree with the bill and don't want it to be voted on because they know it will pass. Does this not seem ridiculous to anyone else? Democrats can do whatever they please, vote on controversial bills at 2am on a weekend so no one will notice, and Republicans were there, yet, when they no longer have power and don't agree they just run away? Is that democracy?

Teachers claiming they can't do their jobs well enough because they might not be able to collectively bargain about their insurance and sweet benefits? Really? Your ability to teach hinges on just that alone? Seems kind of weak if you ask me.

Democracy in American starts with elections. If you don't vote, you don't have a voice. Unfortunately with voting, the majority wins and obviously, not everyone likes the majority. However, if you don't allow the majority to do what they were elected to do, you are silencing the voices of those who voted for that majority.

The mind of a democrat is confusing. They don't seem to understand that tax money is money that comes from other people and not from the government at random. The "give me what I deserve" idea in this country is terrible and is clearly on display. When 10% of the wage-earners in the country pay 70% of the taxes, something is a little wrong, yet these people always go back to any kind of tax break being something to help the rich. Why not? They pay the most taxes!

I don't understand and never will, but, it would be nice if all these people would just go home and back to their jobs. I am guessing though, they don't have jobs and are probably collecting unemployment.