Author Archives: Rich Freggiaro

Many years ago Stoker and I were walking down Michigan Avenue in Chicago at Christmas time. It was a cold but sunny day and the famous Windy City was enjoying calm conditions. The street was filled with festive shoppers and the stores were all decked out in holiday finery. Not a homeless person in sightContinue reading “Keeping My Head Down”

LGBTQ activists at New York City’s annual drag queen parade chanted, “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children,” in Manhattan on Friday. I had a hard time believing this actually happened. But YouTube has video. And sure enough that is what these marchers are chanting. I am a tolerant man. I really don’tContinue reading “Hubris Month”

My 16th trip to Europe for cycling was accomplished in 4 steps: car transfer to SFO, flight from SFO to Charlotte, flight from Charlotte to CDG in Paris, then take the TGV to Nimes. Almost 30 hours in transit. The easiest and most comfortable leg was supposed to be the Business Class flight across theContinue reading “Bon Voyage!”

First it was Bud Lite managing to offend a large number of its customers and cut sales by 30%. Now this from the store I use to avoid shopping at Walmart: Target Pride merchandise includes female-style swimsuits that can be used to “tuck” male genitalia, products labeled as “Thoughtfully fit on multiple body types andContinue reading “Right On Target”

One really cool thing about France is that it has a real high speed rail network, far superior to anything California is going to come up with even if we do actually build something. The TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) can get you to many places in France at speeds up to 180 mph. AndContinue reading “Lost in Translation”

First a little history: Stoker grew up in Iowa but spent several years in St. Paul Minnesota. She got her Library Science degree at the University of Minnesota, then went to work to support her first husband while he worked on his PHD. When we got together in DC I used to get on herContinue reading “Northern Lights”

Readers may recall that I like to say my hobbies are cycling, chess and monogamy. Two of those are in the gender bending news this week. Item 1 is from a women’s crit cycling race in New York. Here is what USA cycling says regarding who is eligible to compete in ‘woman’s’ races: “Those whoContinue reading “Gender Benders”

Back when Mr. Putin first sent troops into Ukraine, bars and liquor stores and vodka fans the world over responded by pouring vodka from Russia down the drain. But there are lots of vodka brands with Russian sounding names that come from other places, including Smirnoff: Smirnoff is named after Vladimir Smirnoff who fled fromContinue reading “До свидания (Dasvidania) Stolichnaya”

A lot of the mail that finds its way to Brumby Road is junk that gets dropped in the garbage can in the garage without ever entering the house. But not when it arrives looking like this: Much of our mail is at least a little unwelcome: PG&E bills, jury duty summons, property tax notices,Continue reading “Tit for Tax”

A high quality road bike that is well maintained should be nearly silent. You might hear a swishing sound of tires on smooth pavement, and a kind of ‘whrrr’ as the clean and well lubricated chain rotates and meshes with the chainrings and cassettes. Shifts are smooth and precise with no irritating rattling or chainContinue reading “The Case of the Creaking Seat Post”