Sneaky Bastard

I was on a ride with some CVC folks yesterday. It was a wonderful day, and I had ambition to climb Rock Store. Unfortunately, I flatted out while being at the back of the group on Las Virgenes. I thought I could make a quick repair and catch up to the group on Mulholland. Turns out that I didn’t have a spare tube in my bag. I walked back to De Anza park to apply a tube patch. Although the Park Tool Super Patch is a great product, it was just too far gone. The nail went through both sides of the tube, and all the patches I had couldn’t seal it up. I started walking back to the truck, and fortunately another cyclist stopped and offered me a tube.

I stopped at the shop this morning and bought four new tubes. ;) I’ll be ready to hand one out to the next stranded cyclist I see.

The Solvang Century was last weekend, and it was fantastic. Originally, it was going to be a family affair, but Dan and Liz whimped (hehe). Heather and I decided to take it easy and do the half-century. Compared to last year’s death march (Solvang Century 2007), the ride last Saturday was an easy cruise. The weather was perfect, although it always starts off very cold. The first 20 miles of the ride, which are common between the 50-mile and 100-mile routes, are just beautiful.

We drove up on Friday to register, arriving at 1715 to stand in line. The line was HUGE, but they processed the riders quickly. Olie stayed at Camp Lamoree; we had a room at the Mission Inn of Pismo Beach, which is a very nice place at a bargain of a price. We drove to Solvang at 0630 for a 0730 start. After the ride, we checked into the Royal Scandinavian Inn, which is the host hotel for the event. It’s okay, but one stay is plenty. It was very nice to not drive home immediately afterwards though. That night, I went out and bought cakes, pies, and muffins for a celebratory snack. They were good. ;)

This is a staged photo of mock exhaustion taken by some fellow cyclists at the event parking. Next year, I’m going to try my luck at the full century again.

The way that some companies keep customers by requiring a phone call during business hours is just infuriating. Two examples: Real and Stamps.com. It doesn’t matter how politely the message is worded, it still pisses me off. Signing up is so easy, it’s hard not to do it by accident sometimes. But canceling, that’s another story. They should put a message on the account summary page, “Before you go any further, you should know that you can’t cancel your account unless you jump through our burning hoops of fire.”

While driving around running errands today, I scanned my radio presets for something interesting. I tuned to KPFK for a moment, and heard a promotion for a DVD titled Healing Cancer From Inside Out and its companion publication, The RAVE Diet & Lifestyle. It was a series of medical claims and personal testimonials over a background track of new-agey music. One women claimed that the “prescribed” raw vegetable diet would cure Type 2 Diabetes in a few days, eliminating the need for insulin. I listened to several people explain that this diet cured diseases that their doctors couldn’t.

The KPFK radio hosts then came back on the air to announce that for a donation to the station of just $175, I could get a copy of this amazing DVD. They went on to explain that the reason conventional medicine cannot or will not cure cancers, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease, is because there is a conspiracy among the government, and pharmaceutical and meat industries that prevent this information getting out. One of the hosts pointed out that the founder of the AMA isn’t even a doctor! (Actually, Nathan Smith Davis was indeed a well respected medical doctor.) The two hosts went on to explain the vast conspiracy, but I couldn’t bear it any longer.

As some people know, I had cancer (NHL DLC) about ten years ago. By the time I was diagnosed and treated, my odds weren’t good. However, conventional medicine did bring me to a state of remission, and I am very thankful to my doctors, medical staff, friends, and family. I remember the feelings of hopelessness, though not to the degree of someone for whom there are no known effective treatments. It is these people I think about when I hear quacks and self-help gurus market their secrets (in some cases, The Secret™). It makes me absolutely furious when I see false hope packaged, marketed, and sold — often with aid, complicity, or actual endorsements by otherwise respectable personalities and organizations.

Regarding this particular diet plan; I will concede that it’s a darn good idea to eat more vegetables. But to claim that eating only raw vegetables will cure serious disease is just deplorable.