WHAT WOULD YOU GRAB??

Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
i've always said that the best thing about living in socal is that i can be to the ocean, the mountains, the desert or mexico all within a 2 hour drive. i once even surfed in the morning at 6am, and was snowboarding by lunch just to further prove the point that socal is so dang rad (yeah, i said rad). i like to get away to the beach when a day gets so hot that you can't possibly be productive or steal away to my little secret town in mexico to ring in the new year. i'm planning to do some long training rides out in joshua tree national park when the distances get long enough to make a field trip out to the desert.

i can't go anywhere right now though, because everything's up in flames. if i drove two hours in any direction tonight, i'd hit at least 3 major fires. now i'm lucky. my neighborhood isn't in any danger so far, but there's a strange golden glow in the air, and my eyes and sinus are itchin' pretty fierce. watching the evacuees at qualcom stadium on tv makes me take stock of everything. i have it pretty good. the worst inconvenience for me is that i can't go for a run outside, so off to the dreadmill tomorrow. thank god i've knocked out my last long run before nyc. two years ago when san diego had their last big fires and i was training for the vegas marathon, the air was so bad i had to do a 20 miler on the dreadmill!!! now mind you, san diego is two hours away from me. but no, just some 4 and 8 miler taper runs left, and i'll be just fine at the gym. i also lost cell service for about two hours today. big whoop. as a matter of fact, it's kind of refreshing to just stare at the thing and not make one call....

i'm watching people on tv fighting to save their homes, defying the evacuation orders. is it really worth it?? and if i were evacuated, what would i grab?? would i let the cervelo go up in flames like the pic you see above?? sure, if it were between the bike and my dogs or my family pictures or just getting out alive. nothing is worth my life, not even a bike, not even my cameras.

watching the evacuees at qualcom is very different than the images we saw from the superdome in new orleans two years ago. yeah, sure anderson cooper has made his way down to report for the special edition of 360 "in the line of fire," but the people are dancing and smiling behind him. they've got more than their basic needs, and kudos to everyone who is making that happen. i suppose we did learn something from katrina. kudos to the firefighters who put their lives on the line to save whatever they possibly can. they're true professional heroes. i feel for those who have lost their homes, and saddened for any loss of life. truth is, we're gonna be just fine here in cali. we'll bounce back. we always do, but please please please don't forget about the victims of katrina who, two years later, are still displaced. they're not dancing and smiling yet, and nobody's talking about them right now......