Cool story with local Pac NW flavor: Omer Kem

Goodness, if you're not inspired by a guy who went from 250lbs to 145lbs and in the domestic pro peloton I don't what will get you fired up..

http://www.oregonlive.com/cycling/index.ssf/everyday_cyclist/

Of course, I have to giggle a little bit, I just happened to run into this, low and behold the columnist is my fav Oregonian freelancer, or something.

You'll need to check out the remarks in the comments section, sorta confirmed the blogger vs. writer thing for me.

(Incidentally, I think she looks just fine in the helmet, plus I saw her "civilian" pics before she locked up her Facebook profile so I can attest we're not talking about the Elephant man, or woman as it were)

Speaking of which (reviews, etc.) I was planning on giving the Portland writer who published a piece n Bicycling Magazine on Erik Tonkin's bike shop a crud review but thought the better of it.

Pretty tangential here, but honestly my only criticism is that I really can't understand why he loves that shop so much; afterall he freely acknowledges Tonkin is surly. (Ever see him after a CX race? It's worse in the shop.) To be candid I'll just take my stuff to River City or Bike Gallery when I'm in town, I'd really rather have folks be friendly and not lecture-y.

Oh, hey, I think maybe I'll take up KATU and OPB on some of those freelancing assignments myself. :)