I was paging through the latest issue of ESPN The Magazine when I came across this story by the famous sports writer Rick Reilly. Check it out:

by Rick Reilly
Approximately 2.6 million Americans lost their jobs last year. One of them couldn’t have been happier about it.

His name is Lionel Rodia, of suburban Philadelphia, and if they ever build a national Fan Hall of Fame, what he did in Game 5 of last year’s World Series should get his face on the logo.

When Lionel’s staffing company was sold and he was pink-slipped, it knocked him flatter than forgotten beer. And it’s not easy to flatten Lionel, who is as pessimistic as a rainbow and twice as colorful. His real name is Mike, but they call him Lionel because, like the train, he can’t be stopped.

So Lionel, 42, did what any true Philly fan would do: He started begging, borrowing and stealing his way into every Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Sixers game he could. And nobody nudges better than Lionel. “I’ve never been to a Springsteen concert with him where he didn’t say, ‘Follow me,’ and we didn’t end up in the front row,” says Lionel’s best friend, Tom (Tush) Millison.

When the Phils played in the soggy World Series Game 5—up three games to one—Lionel sat along the leftfield foul pole in a seat he’d gotten for free. With the game tied 2-2 in the sixth, rain checks were issued for the rest of Game 5, to be played two nights later. That is when Lionel somehow sneaked into the swanky Diamond Club section behind the plate, where Tush has season tickets.

Ten minutes in, Tush is in his seat—five rows up, just off home plate—when his cell buzzes. It’s Lionel. “Look to your right,” Lionel says. And there he is, sitting TWO rows back, DEAD CENTER behind home plate, grinning like Phil Mickelson.

Now, the Phillies have just won, 4-3, when Lionel notices a 6’8″ guy in a suit begin to walk down the aisle. Lionel figures the guy’s important, so he slinks in behind him, through a gate and toward the Tampa dugout. Who’s in there but Bud Selig, some suits and the World Series trophy…

Find the rest of the story at ESPN The Magazine.

A while ago I went over to the local bookseller and picked up a new mag to the rack. Backpacking Light by and large is a subscription based Web site with lots of product reviews for products to drop weight for lightweight hiking and backcountry travel. They have moved into the printed format and I am loving it.

Content: Solid articles in Issue 9. Some could have used a little bit more editing (as could I) but by and large the content is very unique. Have you ever thought the only difference between some of the hero’s we read about in the magazines and other people we know who have also conquered great challenges is the power of promotion? This magazine celebrates a number of people who have conquered some great things while still working a nine-to-five. My favorite article in this issue is “Singletrack on the Ultralight” by Doug Johnson. It is all about three day mountain bike ride with the riders carrying their overnight gear. Though my back hurts considering the idea – the article is awesome and highlights some options to make the whole task a lot easier.

Graphic Design: Moments of brilliance with a few pages of that could use a little more ink. Lots of good images illustrated the articles. A family of fonts are used rather than a fiasco of design where every story gets a different look. The next time you see it. Give it a check.

Or is it my dream girl…
pole-dancing

-DSheek
She is such a giver!

My buddy Capt. Adam B. forwarded me a Craigslist post from a guy in Montana trying to sell his Xterra. It has since been flagged but this is phenomenal. Check it out:

OK, let me start off by saying this Xterra is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o’clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.

It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn’t meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that’s what your Prius is for. If that’s the kind of car you’re looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This car was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn’t even consider superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don’t get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn’t let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don’t even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 265 HP engine to outrun the cops. It’s got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you’re operating on yourself. The Xterra also has an automatic transmission so if you’re being chased by Libyan terrorists, you’ll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It’s saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There’s a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man.

My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $12,900, but I’ll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don’t walk up and tell me you’ll give me $5,000 for it. That’s liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let’s just say you won’t be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There’s only 69,000 miles on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it’s a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I’ll get back to you. And when I do, we’ll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.

To sweeten the deal a little, I’m throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can’t fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.

Rock on.

Matt S.
Outside All Day

REPORT FROM CROSS FEVER #1: HART PARK CX
By Dot Wong

Sunday, January 4th was race #1 of the inaugural SoCal ‘Cross Fever Series — all events taking
place in January 2009 and showing off cyclocross racing at its finest on some of the best courses southern/central California has to offer! Sam Ames and the Kern Wheelmen Bicycle Club kicked off ʻCross Fever with the classic Hart Park CX event in Bakersfield, brought to you by ActionSports, Glinn and Giordano Physical Therapy, Guinn Construction and Bidart Farms.

The rains passed throughout the holidays and a couple days prior making the parcourse the best
its been in years. Green grass and awesome soil conditions treated racers to the classic style Euro course that Bakersfield is famous for and brought with it a little taste of Belgian-like slippery
conditions taking its share of victims in the turns and off-camber hillsides. Ample pavement at the start led riders into the twisting grass downhill and off camber sections followed by technical twists, turns and wide open power sections. The true test on the day lied in the three run ups strung together in succession. While not very long, they were challenging and proved to be the deciding factor before the start finish.

Competitors came from across the region from Fresno to San Diego, many still trying ʻcross for the first time. The event also drew notables like Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific/Alan) who said he
wouldn’t miss it being a part of the series celebrating cyclocross and the finale of the 2008-09
season! Brent had a successful day winning all events he entered in commanding fashion, though
he was challenged by some new faces to SoCal’Cross including David Rous, Ryan Rickard, and
Brian Monroe of Team AIAGE in the masters 35+ men’s race.

New racers in the Juniors and Women’s 3/4 fields is always a treat to watch, and the women’s 3/4 race did not disappoint with the most exciting finish if the day as Emily Georgeson outsprinted Erika Noel at the line! The two stayed together for the entire race and both women loved their first experience with cyclocross! Junior 15-18 Men’s winner Jacob Dodge (Team Vapor) from Fresno raced for the first time on a Jamis Nova Pro CX demo bike and loved it! Jacob was a natural and won his race but he didn’t have enough. duking it out later that day in the men’s 3/4 race! Local favorite, Junior 10-14 Women’s winner, Christina Fuentes (Simply Fit/Action Sports) took her Felt road bike, complete with road tires on the slippery course and her cool demeanor brought her in first place and clean too! Christina’s pit crew (her family) was there to greet the smiling future star of cycling! SoCalCross Prestige Series winner 10-14 Jr Men, Joshua Said from Huntington Beach and ‘Cross Fever #3 host club Velo Allegro, used his cycling AND surfing skills to win his race.

In the masters 55+ race, Bob Llamas (Team MBS) took the victory. Bob was using this race as a
tune-up for UCI Masters CX World Championships in Belgium on January 24th along with R.Lee
Wilmore (Celo Pacific). Both Bob and Lee are National CX Medalists and it will be exciting to see
how our two SoCal men do!

In the elite Women’s race, Sarah Kaufmann (Roaring Mouse) on her Christmas gift to herself, a
Redline Conquest Team bike, won the first cyclocross race of 2009 in commanding fashion. Her
consistency on course kept her away from her chasers leading the race after taking the lead from veteran crosser Dot Wong (CICLE) and Colorado visitor and triathlete, Molly Hummel. Sarah is using CX for weekly intensity training in preparation for her upcoming Pro MTB race season!

In the elite Men’s race, a quality field of riders took off and stayed together until the infamous triple threat hill climbs stretched the field and finally broke apart the race with Brent Prenzlow and his steady strength and solid form won the day! Race Director, Sam Ames (Action Sports) had a solid race and was cheered on by his friends and family to a strong 2nd place finish. Stephen Ray (Steven’s Bicycle Racing) from Fresno completing the podium finishing 3rd — don’t miss the Lou’s night race in Fresno on 1/31, by the way.

And just when you thought it was over, the highlight of the day, it was time for the Bidart and Ablin Hillclimb Challenge! Racers, fans and all had a chance at $100 CASH…first one to the top of an amazing run up climb that rings the bell wins! Brent Prenzlow won for the second straight year taking the traditional switchback route, while his challengers including race director, Sam Ames tried some shorter routes directly up the steep mountain face.

Thanks to our great product sponsors: Action Sports, 53×11 coffee, Kool N Fit Sport, Vitalyte,
Protech Skin Care, Voler Team Apparel, Bare Naked Granola, Thule and Warner Springs Ranch,
racers were awarded some really great prizes throughout the day!

Grand Prize drawings in the Cross Fever Series include: a Bailey Bikes CX frame, a SRAM Rival
Crankset, a 2-night stay at Warner Springs Ranch in San Diego, goodies from SDG, Planet Bike,
Michelin and more!

Complete race results can be found at www.CrossFever.org

Race photos from the race can be found at LA Sports Photo and SoCalCross Photo of the Week.
Next up Nimble Creative and SLO/Nexxus cycling team will host the first ever cyclocross race on
the central coast at Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande. Bring your family and friends for the
weekend of racing, vacationing and wine tasting. Special hotel rates are available. Check out
details at: www.CenCalCycling.com

More info on SoCal’Cross Fever Series can be found at: www.CrossFever.org or
www.SoCalCross.org

Writing an outdoor blog creates a natural tension. You want to write. But you want to be outside more. So after three workouts today, I write.

January in the Southland started in a fog. Fog that felt like rain and slowed my approach. Now into the second week I have begun my march to XTerra Real at Folsom Lake. Today was day one and I got off to a great start. 45 minutes with ES Masters. Craig Hummer was in lane one leading the crew. Send me questions about the ’09 Tour and I will ask him at the next workout. With the pool work done, I sipped on Orange Motor Tabs, and headed off to the trail for 35 minutes of zone 3 fun. All of that before starting off the week at work – right on time. At the days close, I jumped in the ocean to cool the legs and enjoy the sun.

Needless to say I needed and used my Motor Tabs to make it through the day. Isn’t it weird how Motor Tabs always tastes so good when you need it the most. Many thanks to Sellers.

M. Smart
Outside All Day

You could say it’s an “Introductory Offer” or our way
of saying “Merry Christmas.” Either way you get:

• 20% off all Ashland complete boards.*
• Plus a FREE assorted sticker pack!*
• And a FREE Concrete Wave magazine!*

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Enter Coupon code at checkout: holiday20

AshlandSkateboards.com
(more…)

Scott Roy has Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammation of the digestive tract. He has a sweet blog that journals his training and can serve as a motivational tool for everyone. Especially excessive tv watchers and other that are perfectly healthy but need something to remove them from the couch.

Matt S.
Outside All Day

Report: SCPS #3 – Storm the Beach

For more info on results and pics: 10-19 SCPS #3: STORM THE BEACH: Celo Pacific: Oceanside

For more info on the series go to: SoCalCross.com

photo by: Richard Murphy

-DSheek
I am still getting the sand out of my shoes!

A few of us guys that headed out on Saturday morning for the Nike Trail/Sullivan Canyon in the Santa Monica mountains are adidas loyalists. We in fact brought with us our friend Dave who lives and breathes that company – being that he works for them.

Dave is new to mountain biking and bikes that have gears for that matter. So it was with much anticipation and a bit of sportswear irony that we found ourselves climbing towards the ridge crest and the famed nike missile site yesterday morning.

Yesterday it was super clear. Clear enough to see: planes landing at Ontario airport, the ocean in Long Beach, the sand of Torrance Beach and San Nicolas island – 60 miles west of the Santa Monica shoreline. I know, hard to believe.

Along the climb we said hello and were greeted by the locals. Locals with big jobs, fancy cars and homes with tv show zip codes. I found them much more friendly then the crew along the trail to lowers earlier in the week. Even for a sunset surf session.

Dave plays rugby for Los Angeles Rugby. And I am not talking about playing once in a while or just going to practice. He actually plays a lot and hits wimps like me for breakfast. I say this to share how impressed I was when he was nimbly and boldly gunning his way down Sullivan canyon on a mtb two sizes too small. Even more impressive that he was on the Outside All Day loaner bike that Andy and I use to coax our friends on to the trails.

Dave asked to borrow the bike this upcoming weekend. I think we have created a big fan.

Matt Smart
Outside All Day

It’s October and Becky and I, this past weekend, both broke our PR in our favorite October races by four minutes. On Saturday morning for the Manhattan Beach 10K Run Becky ran a 49:11 with a 7:55 pace. Awesome. For Tinley I beat last years time by four minutes. It’s great to be married to a competitor.

Matt Smart
Outside All Day

Last weekend I was able to enjoy a great ride through the streets of DC.

BikeDC was organized to benefit the Washington Area Bike Association, and was extremely well done. Not often are you able to ride unrestricted through Washington streets. Normally you’re dodging the overly agressive cab drivers or negotiating the huge pot holes while trying not to hit the Washington elites yelling at their interns on their blue tooths.

But not so this day. This day we had an all access pass to some of the most beautiful streets in all of Washington. And I must say it was rather gratifying having Metro PD halting some seriously ticked Washingtonians while riding down Pennsylvania Ave. It was also gratifying to be riding my brand new Specialized Hardrock Sport, despite some minor technical difficulties.

After the ride, I decided that I really need to start getting more involved with WABA. According to their web site, “the mission of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association is to create a healthy, more livable region by promoting bicycling for fun, fitness, and affordable transportation; advocating for better bicycling conditions and transportation choices for a healthier environment, and educating children, adults, and motorists about safe bicycling.” Not to mention the fact that on Sunday they offered a free Bike Valet service to bikers at the Crafty Bastards art festival. I’ve never valeted my bike before, but I could definitely get used to it.

Mike Lawson
District of Columbia
outsideallday.com contributor

Many thanks to Matt F. and Tracie S. and Matt F. at Rock N’ Road Cyclery. The above pic shows me a few hours after my late evening purchase of a Specialized Epic. Matt went out of his way to make sure I had all the info I needed to make a good decision on my new bike. And when I got down to Mission Viejo Tracie was phenomenal. When it comes to bike shop staff I have super high standards. I spent time in high school working in one and a family friend managed another. Those two experiences have left me with high expectations for service and quality gear. When I showed up Tracie was super friendly, understanding and generous with her time. And the bike was ready to go as promised. Andy B. showed up shortly after with our new Outside All Day kit and I raced back to the South Bay to ride PV. The Epic is just that. Yesterday the mail came and with it a thank you letter from Tracie for making the drive down and choosing them to purchase a bike. Wow.

Matt Smart
Outside All Day