Liberal is not a bad word. I ride with a Liberal most days.
Ryan is having a Blast Meeting people on his ride.
If you could meet him you would have no problems saying He is now a friend of mine.

No, "Liberal" isn't a bad word. But it's politically charged.

And I have no doubt Ryan considers you a friend, 10 Wheels. It's hard to think of anyone who meets you who isn't.

I'm glad the thread is more about Ryan's success, but I can't exactly agree with Historian's list

- the old and the young are equally stupid
- radicals are just committed
- people+internet posting = stupidity

I mean who hasn't sent a late night drunken email to a ex-wife or girlfriend and regretted it
the following, morning......oops there's another stupid posting. It's the anonimity of the internet that gives us permission to say things that we wouldn't in person. I'm not surprised that in person people have liked Ryan. I would have ridden with him if I was near, but I'm in the NE so all I did was give him my encouragement.

Left, Center, Right we are all one on the bike.

I could say that Ryan was driven to radical activism by the illogical blame gaming, lack of professional accountability, and the unashamed use of straw man bad guys of the previous 8 years. I could say that, but I wouldn't because I'd have to make a tremendous leap in logic to ascertain that from a bike touring forum ;).

You could, and if you did I would agree with you. The past eight years have seen the Lunatic Left use all those approaches and more; perhaps the funniest was the repeated "he's not my President" claim. Perhaps they should have moved somewhere that would have made the claim literally true. :roflmao2:

Thank you, you've been most helpful.

I try to live up to my reputation as the Touring Forum Hall Monitor. :)

These recent posts have become silly and worse, and they belong in the "Politics & Religion" branch. Some folks are falling into one of the traps that Ryan has fallen into, namely making assumptions about the political beliefs of others, and these assumptions are often false.

Why does this bring to mind Jim Carrey and Fire Marshall Bill :p?
We now return this thread to the further adventures of Flyin' Ryan.

Heck, I just keep coming back to this thread to check if any of the lovefest posters have had his name tattoo'ed on their butt yet :)

How many butts have you seen?

Dunno 10Wheels, but yours is seeming like the likely candidate for the tattoo.

Ryan is having a Blast riding his bike.
Sorry you are not.

Oh, I have a blast. I rode 90 miles yesterday. No Ryan in sight :thumb:

He is in Alabama.
Cool, Cheer Up.
Quit thinking about your grandfather's 66 y/o butt.

At what point does the very beginning, before he ever left, become the past? Once he made his way out of Arizona he seemed to be committed to the ride. He has remained committed to the ride.

He's a guy on a bike ride across the country. When he left he was ill prepared for the journey. He went for it any way.

I've never asked anyone who could use a hand what their political beliefs were before helping if I could. I'm not going to start now.

If you have a problem with the ride, don't read the thread.

Holy cow, popular thread! Any publicity is good publicity! 100%

Sunday: Dec 28, 2008 6:15 PM

I just spoke to Ryan in Baton Rouge, LA.

They spent last night in a women's bathroom at a public park because of the rain storm.

Rained All day. They hitched a ride on a truck to Baton Rouge, where they were invited to spend the night in someone's home.

Ryan said this would be good, so he could Up Date His Web Site.

No offense, but had you taken the time to read my entire post you would have seen the already quoted text from Ryan himself.

I suppose you're trying to be smart and are implying that "your whiteness is showing through" is not a racist comment. Could you imagine yourself (if you are white) saying, to a black man, that his "blackness was showing through", and meaning it in a truly negative, non-jovial way?

I hope your answer is no. If it is, why is Ryan excused from saying that someone's whiteness is showing through? Is it the old double standard that black people are allowed to make fun of whitey without being accused of racism?

I have no problems telling one the truth. Black or White.
I grew up in an all white town.
Never heard or spoke to a person of any color until I went to college.
Guess what, they were no different from me.

I hate, I detest, I loathe racists, no matter if they are white and hate black or Mexican and hate Indians, I hate racists, plain and simple.

I do not tolerate them on any level, to any degree. You say something racist in a forum, oh, well, you’re immediately forgiven because it's the internet.

No, we are just more inclined to say what we really feel because it is the internet. He is NOT anonymous here. He has put his name, pictures, location, etc... on here, so he did not say that because of anonymity.

Plus (not that it matters) he never made any attempt to apologize for that remark.

I landed an awesome side job awhile back and one of the first comments out of the guys mouth, referring to 2 of my crew members and lifelong friends was, "as long as they aren't out here showing their color"

I immediately walked off the job.

I hate racists of all color or creed and do not dismiss it lightly like some of you guys.

You need to chill out. Please don't let one word or action drive you over the edge.
I am a 66 y/o White Bike Rider. The only Way I can Speak is Whiteness.
Take care.

Sorry, but your "race" is "human", 10 Wheels. You speak with your humanity, not your skin color.

Yep, I really am not white. I think closer to tan.
Especially after 11,000 miles in the Texas Sun.

Hate is dumb.

Congratulations Ralph. You are the ideal that we all aspire to.
While you appear to have a white light emanating from your head, and are ascending to the heavens, the rest of us have to contend with that nasty bit of reality called "human nature".

I would find it extremely difficult to live in your racist free vacuum. Rather than purging yourself from all instances of "racial slight", I would invite you to look at it from a different perspective.

The only control you have is of your own behavior. You can choose to "dismiss" (as you have with Ryan), "run" (as you did in your workplace example), or educate by word, deed and example (as 10wheels has graciously done with Ryan). With the latter, everybody wins.

I remember the "he's not my President" claim being made quite frequently in the 90s too.

Let's keep this thread out of P&R territory, please, so it doesn't get moved there.

This is my last comment on this.


You're right MNBikeguy, racism is a good thing and anyone who has been personaly and deeply effected by it and decides to take a stand against it is getting up on their high horse and is nothing but a self ritghous snob.

Hey guys and gals. We had a bit of a tough day. Started out with rain like I have never seen (at least not on a bike). I spent two or three hours under an over pass trying to hitch because of the weather. I was soaked to the bone and quite cold. Ryan is always ahead of me so we often split up and meet at the end of the day. I got a ride from two quite funny and nice people all the way to Baton Rouge. I only rode about 30 miles. Ryan caught up with me and we got something to eat. Our ride back did not end so well. About half a mile from where we are staying we both got hit by the same car. I am fine with a small bruise to the elbow. Ryan messed up his knee. Earlier I estimated three or more days of recovery for him but I'm not sure about that. There was also some bike damage but as far as we can tell right now there is no damage to our frames. The person who hit us was a young college kid who stopped and was as helpful as he could be. He is taking us to the bike store tomorrow to pay for our bikes to be fixed.

I feel I have become a small part of this so thanks to all the well wishers.