I find it interesting that the kid in the new Ford Escape hybrid commercial says, “Dad, can you drop me off a few blocks from the movie? People in that neighborhood ride bikes and drive hybrids.” Who’da thunk the day would come when a huge automobile company (that makes huge automobiles) would openly acknowledge bikes as a legitimate alternative to a car? Pretty cool.

Would anyone dare argue that Spiderman 3 is not the worst movie ever? I watched it recently with my wife and father-in-law. We kept wanting to turn it off, but eventually we made it fun by doing our own version of Mystery Science Theater 3000 with it. Some of that dialogue is so bad, it would make Oprah want to punch a baby.

I did my first cyclocross race in at least two years yesterday. It was held at Estabrook Park on Milwaukee’s east side. Almost all the riding I’ve done in the last couple months has been low-intensity stuff, so I wasn’t aspiring to much. I managed to hang with the leaders for a few laps, then shifted into cruise mode as the strongest four guys pulled away. I see-sawed with a Brazen Dropout for a couple laps until he missed a turn. Then I managed to pass Michael Heagney, who won the 30+ division of this year’s Superweek. He clawed his way back up to me, though, on the last couple laps. I attacked him on the last lap, but got caught up in a group of lapped riders, which enabled him to get back on. He came by me at the finish, taking fourth place. It was a painful 45 minutes, but I’m glad I did it. In fact, I was so exhausted that I actually had to drag my left leg into the car. I’m told the leaders didn’t finish very far ahead of Michael and me, so I’m contemplating adding a little intensity into my November workouts and seeing what I might do at the state championship race on December 2.