BALLS TO THE WALL FISHING

The only place to stay current on the latest manic ramblings from the Florida Panhandle.

CHEEKY FLY REELS, THE OFFICIAL REEL OF BALLS TO THE WALL FISHING

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

JUST ANOTHER REASON NOT TO OWN A CAT...


Monday, January 28, 2013

CULT CROSS IS GONNA BE A GOODIN..


I continue to reconnect with good people regarding Cult Cross 2013. We will have some great sponsors on board and as usual plenty of shwag..Perhaps the finest prize of all will go to the winner of the Fat Bike category. The Sean Kelly Story on not one, but two VHS tapes which is being re-prized by Courtney Wuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuzup Gregpry. Dawg.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

THE LITTLE THINGS YOU DO NOT SEE....

Last night was the end of the season Cyclocross awards party which was held in Lakewood at Prestige Imports, one of the season's sponsors. It was a fun night, with all the usual suspects and awards given. I need to thank so many people for helping climb this announcing ladder I'm on right now for all the support and also for letting me be a part of their events and races. 
It was a room full of pizza, beer, prizes, awards and many of the most gifted and hard working athletes in the good ol USA. Of course the Juniors represented big time...they have been beating up on the adults all season.
Greg Keller was in the house and celebrated the overall team victory in the 35+ men's open category for Boulder Cycle Sport
  The 8-9 year olds were all recognized with some shwag...Shamus Keller leading the onslaught on the podium.
But beyond the jib jabbing and fine chat there were a couple of moments I found refreshing last evening. Of all of them, and without boring you with the details, the one I was most fond of was upon leaving the gathering. I had said my goodbyes to everyone when I ran into Greg and Aiden Keller on the way out the door. I briefly congratulated Aiden on his fine 13th place finish at Nationals in the 10-12 year old category. As I turned to leave with my girlfriend, I heard young Aiden's voice say "see ya LG". Three simple words. It was not so much the words, but the tone with which they were said. The tone was genuine and made me feel like I was part of something pretty special here in Colorado, part of a big ol family full of good people and kids. The season is now officially over here for 2012, but damn, I can't wait for 2013 to get rolling....see you out there.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

ALL BUILT ON A FARCE...

At least we have that going for us....
I can't believe Oprah got her mug out of the box of Twinkies long enough to do a 3 hour interview, which I will never watch.....

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

ÉLAN DEMO DAY WITH GLEN PLAK, BEAVER CREEK

Last Friday was Élan demo day with Glen Plake. It was a cool deal. I missed the boat on much of the skiing with the movie legend due to getting tied up by some knuckle heads in the shop, however we did get to hang out for a while and talk skiing. The guy is super fun with a great vibe and wants to hear what you have to say about Elan's line up. We skied the Spectrum 95 and 105 along with the carving ski. The 105 skied like a dream and the carving ski is a monster that digs trenches with the best of em.

Monday, January 14, 2013

REPEATERS AT CX NATS. PAGE #4, COMPTON #9

 Ok, so you know the deal already. Veterans Katie Compton and Jonathan Page lit it up in a less than warm and fuzzy National CX Championship race in the land of cheese and muskie. On top of all that, Colorado riders did a wonderful job of representing the flag and rode incredibly well taking home a pile of metal. And the course was brutally different for nearly every race and racer. And it was good to see such a positive buzz all over the University of Facebook all week. There was one post on Facebook that struck me as funny however, it came from Brett Batchelder when he mentioned the smaller fields than he could remember from past National CX Championship events. If this is indeed the case, I think it's a combo of things. First of all the economy sucks, and for the common man like me it's not possible to go and compete in Wisconsin or Kentucky for that matter. Secondly at this point I'm over riding bikes this time of year (all though I'm always ready to call the action!) and I'm consumed with ski season. This is when I prefer to take 2-3 months off the bike and not even think about pedaling, and ski, downhill, because it's so damn fun. 

I think the other part of why numbers dwindle is that many of us realize that it's not that much fun to spend thousands of dollars to travel and finish 50th in a race. After years of training and racing, you finally realize that the gifted athletes, the athletes who have been born with a naturally big engine, will reep all the benefits and victories no matter how hard we train, for if you do not have the natural born ability to begin with, you can improve some, but you will never get to the elite level of the gifted. You can ride the same bike, tires, wheels, shoes, and components as the best of the best, but these same riders could show up on a rusty Huffy and kick our asses because they have been born with a gift, and I have not. I can show up to a race and tell you exactly where and who I will finish behind, so I prefer to simply talk about it. And that works best for me. 
 
Photos from Wil Matthews/Velo News


Wednesday, January 9, 2013

LANCE ARMSTRONG WILL APPEAR ON EMRIL

And teach us all how to cook omelets immediately following the Oprah episode. It's going to be a very special day. I'll bet all the fat and bitter housewives can't wait for this one, since they are so knowledgeable about the subject of self medicating.