Incursio

The first definition of stupider is "Slow to learn or understand; obtuse." I think that there would be good cause to add to it "See American". Today, while passing through the security checkpoint at Portland International (PDX) I witnessed the TSA personnel sending people to the back of the line for not taking off their flip-flops. They shouted endlessly about removing liquids, regardless of size. And they generally treat every one of us like we were infants incapable of understanding simple instructions. But perhaps they might be on to something.

Two minor gripes. First - I have been noticing a lot of people writing comments or articles lately that end in the question "no?". It is as if we have had a sudden influx of people wanting to sound "international" or something, like they are ESL when most likely they are from Illinois. So many things are now written like this: "It seems like a pretty good idea to get out of Iraq, no?" No? Yes? Wait, I am confused. Is it a good idea or not? Are you answering your own question? What the hell are you trying to say? And my second nit: Don't people get the fact that the more extreme you are in your leanings - the more damage you usually do to your "cause"?

Well, we started off with good intentions. We rode down to the Bridge Pedal this morning, and it looked more like the Bridge March. The line of people walking their bikes extended all the way over the Ross Island bridge and back through the industrial area all the way to OMSI. Packed in, curb to curb. We turned around and went home. No way I was going to fight that all day. It is time for the BTA to limit entrants to the Bridge Pedal to 10,000, and possibly break it up into two weekends. One weekend for the 8 and 10 bridge rides, and one weekend for the 6 bridge ride. Each weekend limited to 10,000 riders. As it currently is, there is just no way that I am going to do this again. And we have ridden in the bridge pedal every year since 2001. But the last 3 years it has been seriously mismanaged and poorly planned. Anyway, we put our bikes on the bike rack of our Jeep, and went and rode around the Columbia River in Vancouver. No risk of running into too many bicycles...