"Hobo on Couch" by Georges Seurat

I couldn't bring myself to get out of the house at 8:20 a.m. this morning to do the 9 a.m. ride that meets in Medford every Sunday.  Why exactly this ride meets at 9 a.m., even when the temperatures will be much more conducive to riding -- or doing anything outdoors other than ice-fishing -- a bit later, I don't know.

A few of my cycling buddies have another reason for avoiding these meet-in-Medford rides.  Some of those that live in other parts of the valley, like my retro-grouch friend Craig (I mean that in a good way) dislike Medford, with its pawn shops, its planning department's apparent syncopahtia towards all things big box, and its not always so enlightened drivers.  So for Craig to ride into Medford, just to ride out of Medford, on his day off from work (he works in Medford); well it just isn't gonna happen.

But I'll stand up for Medford's charm.  Whether you're an anthropologist of bike path hoboism, or a student of early 1970s Bauhaus-meets-strip-mall architecture, Medford is not without its distinct points of interest.

One of those is the man dress up like Uncle Sam who delivers donuts to the bike shop where I work every tax season.  I'm sure to see him again soon.  But what a surprise I got this morning when logging onto the Mail Tribune website, I learned that he is not just a donut distrubuting tax guy, he's a former pro athlete.

Medford is the sort of town where even better-than-average high school athletes earn themselves nicknames for life and have their exploits retold for generations by high school gym teachers and janitors and even mayors.  As for pro athletes, since the lumberjack games pro league officially folded, there have been precious few from Medford.  Alas.  Not that there are none.  There is Bob Walcott, there was the other pitcher, the one who was in the Baltimore Orioles farm system and died an untimely young death, and then there is the young power forward playing for the Duke Blue Devils (whom I understand aren't strictly professional, though I know plenty of pro cyclists who would love to receive that sort of material support for their work and also have the opprtunity to ply their trade on national television).

In summary, Medford never forgets its pro athletes.  Here's the article:

Time Honored