In 2005 I wrote “Chicks Dig the Long Ball”, a short conversation in which my softball teammate Kath and I debated the virtues of the fat, soaring long ball versus, say, an opposite field triple. [Let the record show that I favor the opposite field triple although in 2005 I couldn't pull it off. In [...]

* * The cross-country course featured passovers, pass-unders, a technical section referred to as “Bagdad Highway” (don’t ask), a spirit-sapping grinder of a switchback climb called “Beatrice” (she’s not as nice as she sounds), and some wicked-crazy shenanigans through the rooted, twisting “Petite Perdrix”. The names of these sections sound nice when you say them [...]

Last year, I was terrified of short track.  Terrified. Let’s not understate that, ok?  Frightened to the point of near-tears. I got my mountain bike a few months before the season started and had done some decent rides, but I was still wobbling around on the knobbies all tipsy style. Even the punk kids on [...]