Does State Farm Hate Cyclists?

Last night I watched a commercial by State Farm Insurance that I really took offense to from the beginning. I almost blogged about right away, but I know how my emotional side can take over for my rational side so I calmed down (somewhat) and let it go.

Then, while cruising the cycling blogs today I see that others were up in arms about it as well. It even set my friend Barry off...well...okay...Barry likes to go on an occasional rant anyway, but that's part of his charm. So I had to go through all the emotional checks again. Should I be upset? Should I not be upset? Do cyclists like to get worked up over nothing?

My rational side set in: It's a insurance company trying to sell car insurance. However, my rational side also said it was in poor taste. Put the guy in a nice suit coat and tie and put on some dorky shorts to over-emphasize your point. My rational-advocacy side then set in and spoke even louder: How DARE you make fun of bicycle commuters to try to sell insurance. We are already treated as second class citizens by many motorists and making us out as geeks in a suit and shorts sure doesn't help. Tell me the last time you ever seen anybody dressed like the guy in this commercial?

Kudos for the bike community for sending emails to State Farm telling them their commercial was in poor taste. Kudos to YouTube viewers for giving it (at press time) a ONE star rating. Kudos to State Farm (damage control) for actually responding on the Streetsblog article (comment #27).

Does State Farm hate cyclists? I don't think so. Actually from what I read they do a great deal for the cycling community with various events and sponsorships and cases of above-average coverage for bicyclists who have been in accidents. I think that the commercial was not thought out well before being put on TV. If they did, and thought it was a great commercial, the cycling community gave them their side of the issue quickly. I'm sure they meant no harm, but harm has been done. Damage control takes over.

Numb

You are always numb when somebody you know dies. You become even more numb when that person is a cyclist who dies in a cycling accident. The dangers of our sport becomes all too real.

Randy Van Zee was not your average cyclist, the guy was an absolute cycling animal. My favorite story of Randy was on RAAM 2004 when he had an accident in Ohio where he injured his groin and cracked his pelvis. While he couldn't even walk or get on/off the bike without assistance, he figured out he could still pedal. And pedal he did. He finished RAAM in '04 with over nine hours to spare.

Last year in the South Dakota Highway 212 Gut Check Randy and Bob Thunselle finished the 432 mile race in 37 hours 26 minutes. I straggled in as the only other finisher in 47:15 nearly 10 hours behind them. I will never dedicate myself to training like Randy did, but I vow to never forget his dedication to the sport. Rest in peace Randy. May the roads be wide open and car free for you in Heaven.

When Bikes Attack and Other Short Stories

Last night CDV and I got out on the Tandem and got in a nice 31 miler after work. We had a planned ride today posted to the group so I decided to clean up/tune up the road bike this morning and swap my pedals out to my new Crank Brothers Quattro Pro SL pedals.

That's when it all went wrong. My Look Keo pedals had probably been on my bike the better part of 10-13,000 miles and didn't really appreciate the thought of being separated. I tried gentle persuasion. They resisted. I tried a little more force and that's when it happened. The big ring attacked my hand. It snarled and barked and ripped my hand wide open. It bled pretty bad too. By the time I cleaned the wound enough to look at it, I knew I had better go have it looked at. I could see the tendon through the cut so I also knew it was not only wide, it was deep. I went into the Doctor's office at 10:30 and didn't get out until 12:30. Killer service. Yeah, that's sarcasm.

It didn't stop me from going on our planned group ride at 1:00, but I'm not going to kid you, my hand hurt pretty bad. Here is a picture of my three stitches:



The ride would prove brutal on the hand and the morale as we dealt with 25 mile per hour winds with stronger gusts. It was pretty violent but no matter what, it was GREAT to be out on the road! 30 miles of riding was a nice first group ride. Let the official riding season begin!

Just Because...

...it will probably never happen again in my lifetime. The Royals lost 4-3 to the Twins tonight, but were the last undefeated team in the major leagues. That, my friends, is something I doubt I'll ever see again in my lifetime. Just for proof, I am posting the following evidence that I captured at the end of last night:

Fatherly Advice

"Son, you're making the same mistake in Iraq that I made with your
mother”.

"What's that Dad ?????"

"I didn't pull out in time..."

Lunch with The kErnEl

The kErnEl brought a contingent down to the USD Programming competition today so CDV, THE Mrs. and I went to Mexico Viejo with him. It's always good to see fellow cyclists. We all agree that Spring needs to get here and stay here.

In other news, Team Man Tandem is planning on taking to the highway for 20-30 tomorrow night and the Lane Hogs are planning a 50 miler on Saturday. If you are in the area, come on along!

Jim's Big Ego

I needed to de-stress a little. Therefor I pulled out my newly acquired CiTy BiLLy CyCLe bottle opener and I'm enjoying a fine Harp lager and I pulled up an oldie but a goodie website. Every so once in awhile I have to pull up Jim's Big Ego. I don't even know how to describe them, but you should give them a listen. I stumbled on them quite some time ago. For me it all started out with a song called Stress. When Austin was young, it was imperative that we played this over and over and over. Another classic is Little Miscommunication which talks about the language barrier between men and women. Last, but certainly not least, their tribute to a few political figures called A$$hole. Should you be at work, you might want to wait on this one unless you have headphones :-).

JBE, any promotional ching you'd like to send my way for your increase of sales thanks to my blog will be appreciated and expected.