Autumn, what I consider the best cycling season of all, is almost upon us. This post, however, isn't about cycling. Last year in October I did a post about a remarkable tree here in London Ontario that I dubbed "The King of Autumn". Some comments on that post prompted me to promise a competition next year. Well, next year is here, and with it the First Annual RANTWICK Autumn Tree Smackdown! I have no idea if The King will be as brilliant as last year, but I'm putting him up against all comers. He is not tipping his hand at all yet:
Please send me your pictures of Autumn trees giving us a show. I would prefer shots of one or just a few trees, since even The King can't reasonably defeat a whole mountainside of fall colour. That said, all pictures of fall foliage are welcome. Submissions will be accepted until Dec 15, 2010. I'll post the pictures here and then we can all vote on the winner over the Christmas season, with votes being collected until Jan 1, 2011. I haven't come up with a prize yet, but I can promise you it will be something of dubious value.
Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K
It seems like an awful lot of things are Extreme these days. People seem to be into lots of Extreme Sports, that's for sure, like this extreme mountain unicyclist I saw yesterday on bikesnobnyc. When things get popular, like extremeness, marketers and manufacturers start getting a little, um, carried away. One example is this restroom hand dryer: 
We have this thing at work and it is indeed extreme. It makes your hand skin go all woogly it is so strong, and there's a reason you can't point it at your face:
That dryer is so strong and loud that almost nobody uses it. Man, that image is distracting. It makes my gums feel like they're drying out. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, extremism. It would seem you can also apply extremism to other "isms"! I'm not on about nihilism this time, but rather Optimism. I encountered Extreme Optimism out on the bike a couple of days ago. Behold:
Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K
