Wednesday, September 30, 2026
congrats to Brandon McNulty! the new UCI Road World Championship, team USA's first World Championship road race victory in 33 years and the biggest win of his career.
An American hadn’t won the World Championships since 1993, and McNulty hadn’t won a race in the entire 2026 season.
Team USA's collective performance was a thing of beauty, a rare victory of pure teamwork. That began with patience. The team correctly calculated that France, Mexico, and Belgium would do a ton of work patrolling the front of the race early, and they let Bruno Armirail shred himself and waited as every one of del Toro's teammates burned themselves out early. Team USA's Kevin Vermaerke told Escape Collective, “The Montreal circuit does its own selecting, so there was no point spending bodies to control it." With 90 kilometers remaining, the USA correctly calculated that someone was going to try and blow the race up, winnowing the big group that had ridden at the front as France and Mexico burnt rider after rider.
The Americans didn't take the bait. Instead, they watched with growing confidence as their biggest rivals all drained themselves. Eventually, van der Poel's insistence on dropping anyone who wouldn't work with him and del Toro's feverish series of accelerations coagulated the group.
It was the perfect moment to attack, and everyone knew it. But who could have gone at that point? Maybe Evenepoel or Pidcock, though they'd be followed. The Americans were the freshest, and in perfect position to pull off the solo raid they'd been waiting all day for. Jorgenson went first, only for del Toro to respond and bring him back. McNulty attacked moments later, when del Toro was still recovering, and the group looked at each other as the Arizonan was given what would turn out to be a fatal gap. He had 33 kilometers to bring it home, a long solo for the rainbow bands.
McNulty wouldn't have gotten away if not for Jorgenson's looming presence. Jorgenson and Simmons (to a certain extent) were both far fresher than anyone else in the elite front group, so everyone knew that chasing McNulty, theoretically the least threatening of the trio, would mean setting up one of the others for a move. Team USA was making everyone dance to their tempo.
It was the perfect moment to attack, and everyone knew it. But who could have gone at that point? Maybe Evenepoel or Pidcock, though they'd be followed. The Americans were the freshest, and in perfect position to pull off the solo raid they'd been waiting all day for. Jorgenson went first, only for del Toro to respond and bring him back. McNulty attacked moments later, when del Toro was still recovering, and the group looked at each other as the Arizonan was given what would turn out to be a fatal gap. He had 33 kilometers to bring it home, a long solo for the rainbow bands.
McNulty wouldn't have gotten away if not for Jorgenson's looming presence. Jorgenson and Simmons (to a certain extent) were both far fresher than anyone else in the elite front group, so everyone knew that chasing McNulty, theoretically the least threatening of the trio, would mean setting up one of the others for a move. Team USA was making everyone dance to their tempo.
"It does become like this game of, 'Okay, you're gonna catch me, but you're gonna be completely fucked,'” U.S. team director Mike Creed told EC. “Your fault for chasing me. You make the person pay for chasing you."
Various attempts were made to chase, with Jorgenson hot on the heels of anyone who tried to ride away from the group. McNulty started to falter on the final trip up the Camillien-Houde, and it seemed he'd be caught a few times. Evenepoel had a go, Pidcock and Seixas tried something and got within a few seconds, and Pidcock and Giulio Ciccone came very close before their fragile partnership dissolved. It did so under pressure of Jorgenson. He more or less forced them to choose between handing McNulty the title or handing it to him. They opted for passivity, and now Brandon McNulty is a most unlikely world champ.
This isn't so much because of his talent, but more so because of his role. McNulty is a domestique, usually gutting himself to set Pogacar and del Toro up, putting in massive shifts at the front of hard races and riding in minutes later, after one of his superstar teammates has won. His victory represents a collective triumph for the USA. Jorgenson and Simmons each could have raced differently and been in with real chances to win, yet they sacrificed probably their only real chances to become world champ to make sure McNulty got the win. Only one rider can wear the rainbow bands, but it took everyone to make Brandon McNulty a champion.
This isn't so much because of his talent, but more so because of his role. McNulty is a domestique, usually gutting himself to set Pogacar and del Toro up, putting in massive shifts at the front of hard races and riding in minutes later, after one of his superstar teammates has won. His victory represents a collective triumph for the USA. Jorgenson and Simmons each could have raced differently and been in with real chances to win, yet they sacrificed probably their only real chances to become world champ to make sure McNulty got the win. Only one rider can wear the rainbow bands, but it took everyone to make Brandon McNulty a champion.
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
instead of doing something constructive and progressing towards a permanent solution, instead, Texas Gov. Abbott declared a statewide disaster on Monday over soaring diesel prices to get cheaper farm diesel legal for commercial road use
The 30-day disaster declaration, which can be extended indefinitely, allowed Abbott to lift some restrictions on commercial transportation, which he said will alleviate some of the elevated costs. Diesel fuel is used in farming and commercial shipping, so elevated fuel prices are passed through to consumers in the form of higher costs for goods at the grocery store.
The declaration expands the use of dyed diesel on Texas roads, suspends Texas Low Emission Diesel rules to the limit the federal government authorizes and raises the allowable weight for fuel, agricultural and timber loads. The governor also requested the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to waive federal ultra-low sulfur diesel requirements to boost supply.
Monday, September 28, 2026
this cute kids lunchbox was designed by Al Konetzni - remember 1st grade when you simply enjoyed the little cool things like a cool lunch box?
this is one of the many reasons I enjoy Facebook pages, there are so many that focus on a single thing, like this on https://www.facebook.com/groups/169550661538899/ one Disney merch/collectibles from before 1967
turns out if you go to the Kearny Mesa Hyundai dealership for a 4 wheel alignment, they tell you the cost will be 150 bucks. But they will email you a quote for 100... is our email address really worth that much to them?
After 110000 miles, it was in need of a tire alignment, the fronts had been smashed by potholes too damn many times, and that had bent the drivers side off enough to wear on the tires enough cause them to get bald on the outside in 20k miles. Not that there was much more on the inside
Anyway, it feels BETTER after the alignment, and I figure that we owe it to the people we like to tell them about any way they can save money, that we learn of.
My perspective is that it's us consumer/spenders - against the companies and services that will rip us off.
Sunday, September 27, 2026
oldest surviving Rolls Royce will be at the London to Brighton Veteran Run
The 1904 vehicle is due to appear at the St James's Motoring Spectacle in London before joining the annual 60-mile event on Nov 1st
Chassis 20154, as the car is known, has recently undergone a three-year restoration which returned it to its former glory, said the Royal Automobile Club.
Duncan Wiltshire, chairman of the organization, said the car's participation was "particularly significant" because it is the only known pre-1905 Rolls-Royce eligible for the car run.
The vehicle, built just months after the partnership between engineer Henry Royce and businessman Charles Rolls was formed, is one of only 17 models of its type produced.
It is regarded as one of the most historically significant cars of its marque.
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run, first held in 1896, celebrates the pioneering vehicles that helped shape the early days of motoring.
RAF Flying Officer Leslie Valentine played a vital role on D-Day, when he who was 24 at the time, flew his Boston bomber at 50ft over the Normandy landing beaches to lay thick smoke to protect the invading forces from enemy fire, on D Day, to cover the invading forces.
Aviation artist Michael Turner captured the mission in his painting Friendly Smoke, and incredibly Mr Valentine's son, who was unaware that it was his father's aircraft depicted in the picture, bought him a copy.
"The eventual realization resulted in the artist visiting and signing the print: 'Thanks for posing for my painting!'."
Saturday, September 26, 2026
Buses passing through McMinn County TN were often pulled over, and passengers were randomly ticketed for drunkenness, regardless of their intoxicated state. Between 1936 and 1946, these fees amounted to almost $300,000 (equivalent to $3,700,000 as of 2024).
The Battle of Athens (sometimes called the McMinn County War) was a citizen rebellion in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, United States, against the corrupt local government, which took place on August 1 and 2, 1946. The citizens, including around 50 to 200 World War II veterans, accused the local officials of predatory policing, police brutality, political corruption, and voter intimidation.
It was a result of the economic corruption of political figures, who enabled gambling, bootlegging, and other illegal activity.
Ex-convicts were often appointed as deputies as most of the county's young men were off fighting World War II.
These deputies furthered the political machinations, exerting control over the citizens of the county.
When McMinn County's GIs were demobilized and returned home, they were targeted by the deputies.
McMinn County had around 3,000 returning military veterans, almost 10 percent of the county's population.
There were several beer joints and honky-tonks around Athens; we were pretty wild; we started having trouble with the law enforcement at that time because they started making a habit of picking up GIs and fining them heavily for most anything—they were kind of making a racket out of it. After long hard years of service—most of us were hard-core veterans of World War II—we were used to drinking our liquor and our beer without being molested. When these things happened, the GIs got madder—the more GIs they arrested, the more they beat up, the madder we got
On August 1, 1946, voting irregularities surfaced as armed deputies blocked independent watchers and locked ballot boxes inside the McMinn County Jail rather than allowing a public count.
The Siege: Around 50 to 200 armed veterans raided a local National Guard armory to secure rifles and ammunition, then marched on the county jail where about 55 deputies had barricaded themselves with the disputed ballot boxes.
Surrender and Reform: After an exchange of gunfire and using dynamite to breach the jail's perimeter, the deputies surrendered in the early hours of August 2 without any fatalities. The recovered ballots were counted honestly, proving the veteran ticket won and effectively dismantling the entrenched machine
after 13 years of entertaining us with upgrading the engineering and design of, while building an Austin Mini, Nik and Richard have gotten Project Binky out of the shed and onto the blacktop for shakedown runs! And of course, found that many things needed to be fixed
Started in 2013, this has been one of the most entertaining series on You Tube for gear heads, I learned of it and posted about it in 2018, with a follow up in 2020 https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search?q=binky
https://www.youtube.com/@BadObsessionMotorsport/videos for all the Binky build videos
this is the only video of a Böhmerland I think I've ever come across
Böhmerland opened its doors in 1924, cast rims from aluminum, closed at World War II, and made the longest wheelbase factory stock motorcycle at 10.5'
Friday, September 25, 2026
538 lumber company locomotives in an online library, interesting designs
https://atom.pnrarchive.org/index.php/informationobject/browse?sq0=heisler&sf0&repos&levels&onlyMedia&findingAidStatus©rightStatus&materialType&topLod=0&startDate&endDate&rangeType=inclusive&fbclid=IwY2xjawUkPJxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6MpStB-NUh1Z48cj7Xtgmui595m2luULmJ1bLqMhvt4KrYAPBplWP1k7JCxQ_aem_GYJWHy-Zh5B56I-TpDkogA
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