That changes you. Seriously. I imagine the Hammer is familar with that.

I had a 15-year old kid die under me from nothing, just altitude maybe. We tried everything, I was first responder. Autopsy found nothing. His Dad was watching the whole time. He just collapsed in the liftline. It was the son’s trip to Alta for him getting accepted early to the college he wanted. I can’t imagine how his Dad felt.

Seen too many more. Never thought it affected me too much, but now, maybe. Years later.

Great post, BTW. I ripped through your book overnight, going to have to buy Eben’s, too, now.

Just kidding; I’m just trying to get you in trouble with BSNYC.

That was over a year ago and then I got put up on his pages another time. My second effort didn’t even exactly fit the format but Fatty was gracious enough to post it anyway. The Trailer Park Cyclist became a Blog and I started having a little fun again just when I thought the fun was over.

Now I have offended the guy who gave me the boost and that is unforgivable. This ain’t an ass kissin’, Elden, this is from the heart. I am sorry.

These various bicycling websites are to me like saloons, or salons. Each has its own attitude and just like when you go to a quiet gathering at one house or a hell-bent-for leather throw down at another, I conduct myself accordingly. I don’t have multiple personalities. I just know where to go when I am in the mood for quiet conversation and where to go when I want to get into a lighting-farts-with-a-lighter competition.

If you review the comments at Snob’s you will see that earlier I made a joke about his Wildcat name by calling him Wild Crack Rock Machine and suggesting that his family emergency was actually rehab. BSNYC always brings out my manic side. But what is his family emergency? Who knows? But now I am sorry about THAT comment, too. Good Lord. Where does it end?

Well, it ends here. When my little brother (who was about your age) sent me an e-mail ten years ago saying I was all he had left since his divorce and how devastated he was that I had abandoned him; I didn’t reply. I was busy chasing money and being a Big Man and didn’t have time for his sniveling.

Yeah. At the funeral I didn’t make any dramatic vows or promises but you know how that goes. But I have never since intentionally harmed or slighted another person and it was not my intent here.

I’m sorry, Brother.

Tim Joe Comstock

You’re a helluva writer and that’s a helluvan apology. Most people say “I’m sorry” and then go on to justify themselves; you just straight-up apologize. I appreciate it. And I should stop being so thin-skinned. – FC

…i used the word ‘meh’ as my ‘take away’ from your revue was that it you had little enthusiasm for the book…

…eldon – as an aside…i have a dedicated copy of eben’s latest, picked up at his sf book signing & admittedly i have not yet had the time to immerse myself…therefore my experience with his “book writin’ ” is predicated on his last tome & years of the snoblog…but…

…good writing has the ability transport one into the implied environment, be it physical or mental & whilst i live in a small town myself, bsnyc has always had me riding in his world, as well as my own…perhaps my allowance for such is due to my experience when i do ride in sf…

…not trying to scathe you, fatty…although i’ve spent little time at your site as of recent, i have enough respect for you so as to try & clarify my position…dunno if i accomplished that but the intent is there…

…peace…

It sure did, and I really appreciate it. Thank you! – FC

Mostly I’m flummoxed at a few of the comments on BSNYC’s own blog (and BikesGoneWild’s here, too) that take the position that this was an unfair, negative review. Also, that over on BSNYC’s site Tim Joe Comstock trashes me, and here he says I’m “very astute.” – FC

In comedic writing, if you don’t get the rhythm and word choice just right, everyone knows something is off even if everyone can’t say why. Mess up the meter and the humor falls flat no matter how good the premise. (Of course, get the meter just right in drama, tackle dense topics deftly, and you get Shakespeare.)

Elden and Eben both understand the music of language. That’s one reason why I follow both their blogs.

They both also take on big serious ideas from time to time. And both do so with refreshing directness, humility and insight. That too is why I follow their blogs.

The topic doesn’t make the writer, but a writer who handles the big topics well is something special. It’s the difference between Jimmy Joyce and a walking tour guide to Dublin; between Blake and a Hallmark card. And anyone who opens a book about bicycle commuting with an anecdote about 9/11 is taking a risk, not going deep to distract from poor prose.

You’re absolutely right when you point out that the quality of a review doesn’t turn on whether one agrees with it. But as for Elden being underrated, I can’t agree with you there. They don’t hand out those lifetime blogging awards to just anybody. And it’s clear he can write too.

I think Bikesnob is a tremendous writer. But not because he goes “deep” so often, or is so funny sometimes, but rather because of his use of language, and his inherent balance of undercutting drama with comedy and undercutting comedy with drama. And a bunch of other writerly stuff I won’t bore you with.

I think Fatty is a very underrated writer – he’s not given the same hype as others in the sphere because he tends to write “light” and toward the comedy. He is victim of the same thing that comedic actors and writers are when it comes to Oscar time – comedy is never taken as seriously as drama.

But here’s a secret – comedy is WAY harder to write than drama. Or good comedy I should say.

As to Fatty’s review – again, some don’t understand. The reason the review is so good is not because of the opinions contained in it, but because of the writing.

AnnaZed said…
And the death membrane has extraordinary wicking properties, so sometimes all you need to do is touch it in order to wind up on the other side of it in a puff of vapor like an evaporating bead of sweat.

Wow, that is one of the most extraordinary sentences I have ever read, and I read a lot. Dude, you need a book deal. This is pearls before swine.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 2:55 PM

…my revue of your revue in a word: meh…

…while it’s obvious you can appreciate the man’s skills, i felt you approached it from a rather subjective viewpoint…

…my personal following of bikesnob nyc dates back close to the beginning & whist ‘bikesnob’ has now written two interesting & funny paeans to cycling, i’ll simply suggest that the man behind it, eben weiss, while truly a cyclist at heart, is merely stretching his writing legs…

…wait’ll he’s really warmed up & takes a pull at the front…