Night Swimming

This entry was posted in Just Life on by .

It is amazing how much activity you can fit into a long day, long day meaning starting at 4 am, which I’m not fond of at all. Yesterday I drove from Topeka to Winona Wisconsin to see Dr. David Gilmer, a dentist there. He contacted me through this website about helping me out with the front teeth problem from last week. The drive was pretty bad. Lost of rain and road construction. I actually minorly fell asleep right before Des Moines. Enough that the zizzies on the side of the road startled me, maybe more like scared me, awake. I stopped at Caribou Coffee and got a large cup.

I got up to Winona closer to 1 than to noon. But, David was on lunch break and, I swear, less than 3 minutes after I got there, he was taking x-rays and doing his thing. No paperwork, nothing. It was such a good experience. I’ve been to a fair amount of dentists in my time and this guy has to top that list. Super easy to talk to, explains everything super well and then, most importantly, is very good when his hands were in my mouth. He did lots of things that I wasn’t familiar with, like giggling my lips when injecting Novocaine. I really couldn’t tell a needle was used at all.

Anyway, the two teeth where the bridge turned out to be pretty good. He built them up and then made a temporary bridge and ordered a permanent one. Super painless and efficient. David just bought a cabin off of Blue Moon Rd., up here in Cable, so he was driving up afterward too.

I got out of Winona around 4, but there was a detour on the way up, so I had to head over to 53 and take I-94. But they were doing construction on the interstate, so it was a log jam. I didn’t really mind. I wasn’t in a hurry and I like looking around some, when I’m driving, and the slower you go, the easier it is to look. Wisconsin is a great state, super scenic. Especially down by the Winona, La Crosse area. Big bluffs and lots of corn.

Anyway, I got up to Cable around 8 pm. It was so nice. I pulled right up to the Rivers Eatery, an oven fired, handmade pizza restaurant, plus more. And it was jammed. Mick, the owner, has been bringing in live music on Wednesdays. Last night it was Molly and her Danger Band. She is from Hayward and is great. Mick “bought” my dinner, which was super generous. I haven’t been up here for a long time and I didn’t realize how much I missed it.

I hung there until Molly quit playing, said hi to a few people and got back to Dennis’ around 10. Dennis had left earlier, taking Bromont to romp in the woods. I decided to go for a night swim. The lake is a 5 minute walk from Dennis’, but I’m walking so poorly, I got a headlamp and took one of his MTB bikes. The moon was just up enough to see a little with the headlamp off. I normally wouldn’t mess with a headlamp, but can’t really afford to do a stupid fall currently.

When I got to the water, a huge something, jumped in. Maybe a beaver, probably a beaver. Hawkeye, Dennis’ dog barked and I was a little hesitant on getting in. I heard another splash, pretty close, but it wasn’t a beaver slapping its tail, something else. I was a little spooked, but intellectually convinced myself that there wasn’t anything that could be swimming around in the lake that could harm us. I waited a couple minutes, then finally took the plunge. The water is pretty warm. I was surprised. I swam out maybe 5 minutes and by then the crescent moon was rising pretty well. The water was so flat. I just treaded water for a few minutes and enjoyed. There is nothing like being alone in the middle of a calm lake, with just enough moonlight. All your senses are stimulated. Super sensitive actually. I love it.

Bromont never showed. I could see his blinky light off in the woods sometimes, but he rarely ends up in the lake when I’m there. He met up with me when I was riding back up to the compound. He was all muddy, like he’d been mucking around in a swamp. I had to hose him off.

I got some good sleep last night. 8 plus hours, when was well needed. Dennis has a bunch of projects around here that I can help with. He’s already started, so I should probably get going.

Dr. Gilmer doing his thing.

Dr. Gilmer doing his thing.

It takes a bunch of equipment to be a dentist.

It takes a bunch of equipment to be a dentist.

Wisconsin.

Wisconsin.

A lot of corn.

A lot of corn.

Stopping before Hayward to let Bromont out. He is such a poser.

Stopping before Hayward to let Bromont out. He is such a poser.

Mick putting a pizza in.

Mick putting a pizza in.

Hawkeye looking at the black water.

Hawkeye looking at the black water.

I rode Dennis' old Bontrager MTB bike to the lake.

I rode Dennis’ old Bontrager MTB bike to the lake.

Bromont's tail this morning. He is in dog heaven here.

Bromont’s tail this morning. He is in dog heaven here.

Dennis has already started on the project list.

Dennis has already started on the project list.

Here’s a bit of music from last night. Molly said that her dream would be getting this song she wrote used on The Game of Thrones. It is perfect.

Remorseful or Repugnant

This entry was posted in Comments about Cycling on by .

I read that Dave Zabriskie is doing Leadville tomorrow. I was kind of surprised, I’m not sure why. I haven’t seen him since I did the Mike Nosco Benefit Ride last November. He was in pretty good form then, but I hadn’t heard hide or hair from him since.

At first I thought, what I normally think, that Dave should just disappear into normal life and just leave cycling as a memory. He should be set in life, he did pretty well as a cyclist. But then I got to thinking about it and thought, shit, I like the guy and I like having him around.

I think it’s a double standard for sure. I say that Levi shouldn’t be racing, anywhere, and it okay for Dave to be doing it. I slam Levi for winning Leadville, which I still majorly disapprove of, but sort of hope Dave wins, or at least has a good race.

I realize the difference is that I really like Dave Zabriskie and don’t much like Levi. And I hardly know either of them personally. I like Dave because of his attitude and the way he’s handled his post confession days. And I don’t approve of Levi for the way he’s handled his whole career, pre and post confession.

There isn’t a line in the sand. When I wrote a post the other day about Froome training with Levi, I got a lot of mixed responses. One comment on Facebook said –” Do you guys ever really listen to yourselves. Where is all this anger coming from. Because it sure doesn’t have anything to do with common sense. Unlike some of the others, Levi seems to be doing everything right, since his admission. He donates his prize money. His gran fondo benefits many children’s charities. He didn’t murder anyone. He didn’t molest any children. He doped in a sport, that was rife with dopers. You people act like he should be crucified. Give it a break. I don’t care whether you’re religious or not. This saying makes a lot of sense. “To err is human, to forgive is divine”. Here’s a guy who hasn’t made excuses, and seems to be doing everything he can, to make amends. And all you people do is shit on him. Shame on all of you.”

There are a lot of very forgiving people out there. And each and everyone of us is different in this regard. This issue affected each and everyone of us in a different way. I do understand there is a huge spectum of different opinions, from whether to forgive and forget, punish until death, or somewhere in the middle.

I might seem pretty harsh in some circumstances, but in reality, I’m very understanding of the issue. I guess my criteria is whether I think the person is generally remorseful of his actions and actually thinks they did something wrong. Dave meets this criteria. Levi doesn’t.

My response to the Facebook comment was – “I have to respectfully disagree. Current actions don’t nullify prior “sins”. You say he didn’t make excuses??? Huh? When Floyd said Levi’s name in relation to doping, before Levi was forced to sign an affidavit, Levi pretty much called Floyd a lying sack of shit. Then he worked a deal, he negotiated keeping an Olympic medal for “telling the truth”. Olympic medals aren’t earned by negotiation. They are earned by talent and sportsmanship, both of which he lacks. How many studies would you like me to produce that shows that takng PED’s last years and maybe a lifetime after stopping? And Levi is still beating up guys racing huge races, then gets kudos from you for donating his winnings?? When one of these guys, anyone of them, tells the truth, admits to everything they did, then they get forgiveness.

Here’s a quote from an email I got from a professional rider a couple weeks ago. – Hey Steve, I read your post on Levi and thought I would share a story with you. Last year at a local race I trace, I toldat I am angry at him and that I wanted to bury the hatchet because I did not think it was fair to single him out. His response was “Why are you angry?” When I told him that he acted unfairly and cheated, h denied that he cheated anyone and went on to say that he never doped for the domestic races that he won. Either this man is delusional or stupider than he looks. All I wanted was a little apology or “I can see how you feel that way.” Fuck him

The guy isn’t remorseful or honestly trying to make, as you say, “amends”. He’s just doing what a guy does after he gets caught.”

I don’t hold grudges. I can forgive and forget. But not until there is a true feeling of remorse. No more lying. No bullshit about everyone else was doing it. Just, “I knew I was cheating and wouldn’t do it again if I had the chance to do it over”. I think Dave Zabriskie might say that. And for that, I wish him good luck tomorrow at Leadville.

Emma Knickman, Dave Z., Roy Knickman, and Rob Mesecher at the Mike Nosco ride in 2010.

Emma Knickman, Dave Z., Roy Knickman, and Rob Mesecher at the Mike Nosco ride in 2010.