Only a fool would complain

Oh, Canada.  A little piece of rock n roll history.  Eat shit, cancer.

Only a Canadian could write such a ballad about freezing to death.  Which brings me straight to the subject of Il Pantani Ride in what is certain to be the weirdest year of our Lord, ever, 2017.  BE CAREFUL UP THERE.  I know you gotta get your train on - I dig that most of all.  But going up there in shorts at 3 PM, because you know, climbing, is a good recipe for not coming back down.  So be smart and wear some wool or something.

With that said, train away.  And if you want to start from here at the Rancho Relaxo, contact Shawn at BRC and he'll get you the quick and dirty approval to park your Subaru right on the official start line.  It's helpful for us to know whose car that is, still parked there 24 hours later, for when we have to start searching for your dead body.  We'll at least know what bike you were riding.  It's 50 miles, which if you're Dave Flatten, is just a shade under 3 hours of beating your subconscious (and Jeremiah Bishop) into submission.  The rest of us, it takes a long time.  So be prepared, and a badass.

Also, can we talk about how in the name of Trump people are doing this loop in under 3 hours?  I'm just hoping to get back under 4 this year.  And finish.  Finishing before dark would be a tremendous achievement from where I'm sitting right now, which is directly on my huge ass.

To ease the pressure, I've set the start time to 10 AM this year, not 11 AM, providing me an extra 1 hour of sunlight to try to limp around the course and make it home alive.  I like my odds, but that could be the eggnog talking.  So who really knows.

No one.  And that's the beauty of it.  It's December, and from here you can dream your own reality, maybe even steer a little for a change.  Free will vs. Destiny.  No matter how much time you spend considering those things, you're the only one to blame on Feb 10th and, conveniently, I'll blame you too.

So we've got that, whatever it is.

Anyway, if you wanna get down, you gotta get up first.
And up, and up, and up.